Walking Wounded
by TWDfan
Summary: Daryl went out hunting for deer but comes home with something else... A mystery, an adventure, and a romance all wrapped in one.
1. Chapter 1

Daryl had been tracking the deer for hours when he heard the screams. Startled, he stopped dead in his tracks, cocking his head to the side to listen. It wasn't long before he heard it again; they were the frantic shrieks of panic.

"Shit!" He swore, turning his head to look longingly at the trail he was about to leave and slung his crossbow over his back.

Turning on his heels, he sprinted cautiously toward the high pitched wailing he heard in the distance. He had no idea who'd be out here in the woods. The women were all back at camp washing the clothes, but he could tell by the timbre that it was a woman, which made the hair on the back of his neck stick up.

He could tell that the sound was getting closer, as he dodged in and out of the trees. The sound was punctuated by grunts and gurgles, making him think that whoever she was, she wasn't going to last long. If he didn't know better, he'd say she was being eaten alive.

Dodging behind a boulder, he listened. The woman had gotten quieter, as if too exhausted to scream anymore. He was about to swing around the edge of the boulder, when he heard a man's voice and pulled back quickly.

"You shoulda just shut your piehole, then I wouldna had to do that." The man spoke but the only response Daryl could hear was a groan of pain.

Fury shot through him, snapping body rigid, tensing every muscle on him. Quietly pulling his crossbow, Daryl peeked around the edge of the rock to look.

His gaze immediately fell on the girl, causing his stomach to clench instantly as if he had been punched.

She couldn't have been very old. Her petite body lay crumpled on the ground, legs askew. Her face was ashen, the only color was the blood trickling from her mouth and the jagged cut above her eye. The bruising was already starting, causing one side of her face to swell. She was naked, her clothes torn from her body, lay scattered in the leaves that lined the ground. Cuts and bruises covered her arms and legs and left arm bent at an odd angle. She was moving very little as the man grabbed rope from his pack, but when her leg moved to the side, he could see blood running down it from the inside of her thigh. Instantly he knew why she had been screaming and a cold fury settled on him.

The man was large, his head covered by scraggly hair that fell limply around his bent head as he worked over his pack. His back was to Daryl which was perfect because Daryl was going to kill this son of a bitch.

Raising his crossbow silently, he put the man in his crosshairs and was about to shoot when he heard another voice.

"Gerald!" the man's voice called out, causing Daryl to pull back carefully.

_Shit!_ Daryl thought inside his head.

"Yeah! Over here!" The scraggly-haired one shouted out. "I got us something to play with!"

The other one stepped out into the clearing. He was fat and tall with a bald head and overalls. He looked about as dumb as a box of rocks, but he held a shotgun in his hand. The fat one immediately gazed down at the broken girl who had fallen completely silent now.

"Where'd ya find her?" He asked, his eyes lighting with excitement.

"Dumb bitch was down by the stream washing her face." He snorted.

"Wow. She's purty." The fat one tried to bend over to touch her face, but his stomach got in the way, so he knelt down next to her. Setting his shotgun down by his feet, he leaned over her and shoved his nose into her hair. Sniffing, he nuzzled her head, and groaned excitedly.

Daryl's lip curled back in a snarl of rage. It was all he could do to not go rushing out there, but he needed to be careful. He formed a plan in his head.

So excited by the naked body of the girl, the fat one began fumbling with his overalls, trying to get them off so he could have his turn on her. Daryl knew he was going to have to act fast, and looked around the ground for a couple of stones. Seeing a couple on the ground he grabbed them.

"Hey! We got time for that later. Besides…she's more fun when she's awake." The scraggly-haired one placed his foot on the fat one and shoved, tipping "Lard-ass" over on his side.

"Hey! You already got a turn." He complained in a high pitch whine.

"And you'll get yurs." He snapped back. "Right now, we got us a couple of rabbits dat need cleanin'." He said, pointing at the trio of dead bunnies laying on the ground.

With one last look, the fat one frowned, shoving his lip out in a pout, and pulled the shoulder of his cover-alls back up. Struggling to stand, Lard-ass grabbed the rabbits by their ears and threw them toward the rock he was going to use to dress them.

Daryl pulled the gun that he kept as back up and cocked the hammer. He knew he couldn't miss and was about to shoot when he heard the girl groan in agony.

Peeking back around the huge rock, he saw her move slightly. She cried out when she accidentally attempted to move the arm that was clearly fractured. He saw her face turn white and her eyes fly open. He could tell the moment that she realized where she was because her eyes grew wide and terror filled them.

_Hang on, little girl._ He thought to himself. _I'm almost there._

Whimpering in fear, the girl cradled her broken arm and attempted to scoot away from the men who now looked at her.

The scraggly-haired one was amused and smiled evilly at her attempt at fleeing. He even got up from cleaning the rabbits to make his way over to her.

He could see her frantic movements mixed with the pain from her arm and as the man got closer, she attempted to kick him, but all she managed to do was piss him off.

_Crack!_ Before he could do anything to stop him, the scraggly-haired man kicked her as hard as he could, right in the ribs.

The icy cold rage turned to hot-blooded fury as Daryl stepped out from behind the boulder with his crossbow raised. His finger squeezed the trigger and it wasn't long before he heard the pleasing sound of the arrow hitting the man right through his chest.

Gurgling followed by an impressive spray of blood exploded from the man's mouth. Pitching forward, the man stumbled for a step before falling right on top of the wheezing girl. Before the fat one even knew what happened, Daryl turned sharply, pointing the gun at him and pulled the trigger, hitting him in the back of the head.

Brain matter and blood exploded all over the rabbits who lay partially skinned. Topping forward, the fat one landed on top of the cleaning rock, before sliding down with a thud to the ground.

Daryl's teeth were clenched, the blood pounding in his ears as he turned back to the scraggly-haired one to make sure he was dead.

He lay on the girl, her pale limbs were all that could be seen of her. Remembering that the bastard had just boot-stomped her ribs, Daryl rushed over, grabbing the man's shoulder and rolled him off of the girl laying beneath.

Cringing at the sight, he shoved his crossbow toward his back and knelt down next to her. She was gasping for air, the wheezing accompanied by frantic attempted to take breaths followed by wincing each time she did. Panic filled her eyes as she saw him and a strangled whimper came out of her as her eyes locked on his.

"Shh…shhh…shh." He tried to soothe her, not even knowing where to begin.

"It's all right. I'm not gonna hurt ya." Daryl made his voice as quiet as possible even though he was a bit panicked. He could see the spot where that asshole had kicked her was already starting to form a boot-shaped bruise and was worried that he had injured her lungs.

She struggled to drag in a breath to fill her lungs.

"That's it. Take a slow, deep breath." He encouraged her as he laid down his crossbow next to his knees. He saw her shiver and goosebumps cover her naked body. He looked around the camp for something to cover her with and his gaze fell on an old army blanket that the scraggly-haired one had next to his pack. Moving quickly, Daryl rushed over to grab it.

"All right now. I'm gonna cover you a bit with this. K?" He said gently, as he shook the blanket out.

She was so focused on catching her breath and trying not to pass out that he wasn't sure if she heard him because when the blanket first touched her legs, she jumped.

Yelping in pain, the girl's eyes shot straight to his, catching him wincing in sympathy. Daryl sighed when tears filled her eyes, before spilling over and trailing down her cheeks. He gently laid the blanket on top of her, up to her chin, before trailing the back of his fingers along her cheeks.

"It's okay. I know you're in a hellofalot of pain right now. I need you to focus on taking slow, steady breaths." He stated gently, brushing away the tears that were falling.

"Can you do that?" He asked, turning his body to grab his pack so he could rummage through it.

His gaze fell back to her and he waited for her to answer.

Her eyes searched his. He could still see the terror and agony in the depths and softened his expression.

"Can you?" He prompted gently.

She was so scared, she could barely breathe. She still couldn't comprehend all that was happening, still stuck on the grotesque man who had forced himself on her. She was still in shock and could feel the gut wrenching pain in her womb, radiating outward through her body. She was barely aware that the man was talking to her, but he was persistent.

Her eyes traveled back to his, studying his to see if he was there to help her or hurt her. Her mind, however, was hard to focus, and her thoughts kept straying. Everything was beginning to be fuzzy, but his eyes held hers. She saw sincere compassion there, causing her to speak, but all that came out was a croak.

"Okay…okay…its all right. Don't talk. Just breathe." He said, gently reassuring her. His hand was still on her cheek as he studied her face. Her color was bad and he was worried that she was suffering from internal bleeding.

He watched her eyes become unfocused and began drifting off toward the trees above. He knew she was barely conscious, which might not be a bad thing. It would certainly be easier to move her if she wasn't.

"Darlin', I'm gonna wrap you up in this. Then I'm gonna hafta carry ya." He cringed at the thought, but knew she was barely with him.

He looked around the campsite until he came up with an idea. He wanted to minimize her shock and knew that he was going to have to do a few things before he moved her. The first of which, was stabilizing her arm. He rummaged through their bags and found a pair of clean socks and a first aid kit with an ace bandage. He grabbed his knife, slicing through the toe of the sock and cut it off. He peeled back the blanket so that her broken arm was exposed. He glanced at her face to see that her eyes had drifted half closed and she was staring out into the woods. Gently lifting her broken arm, he cringed when she yelped, but rolled the sock up her arm. He could feel her shaking as he used a piece of bark to cradle her arm in and wrapped the ace bandage around the makeshift device. Once it was stabilized, he looked at her face.

Her mouth hung slightly open and her lips were almost colorless. He could hear her panting now and knew he had to hurry. Pulling the blanket away from her, she gasped when the cold air hit her.

"Hang in there. I'm almost done." He kept talking to her, his mind racing quickly.

Sliding his arms under the back of her knees and shoulders, he knew this was going to be the worst part, but had no other choice. Lifting her as gently as he could, she went completely limp the moment all of her weight tugged down on her brutally damaged ribs.

Thankful that she had passed out, Daryl moved her to the blanket and rolled her up in it like a burrito. Throwing his pack onto his back, he picked her up and began moving as quickly as he could toward the prison.


	2. Chapter 2

Rick grabbed hold of the chain fence, giving it a good shake, as he tested for weaknesses in the links. For a moment, his mind wandered to thoughts of Lori. He kept playing the moment of her death in his mind, over and over again, imagining all sorts of horrible scenarios, but the one thing that stuck with him the most was that it was his fault that she had died. Grasping the chain link fence with both hands, he leaned his head against it as sobs began wracking his body.

"Why!?" He screamed, through the fence, not caring that he had caught the attention of the meandering Walkers that wandered endlessly along the fence with their avaricious hunger.

"WHY!?" He choked on his sobs as he turned around to lean his back against the fence, grasping his thick hair in his hands before sliding down the fence and sinking to the ground in agony.

Rocking himself, he tugged on his hair frantically, as if causing himself pain would somehow deaden the mind numbing loss of his wife. Tears poured down his face as he banged his head uselessly against the fence.

Moments passed before Rick opened his eyes, and just in time too, because a Walker had stumbled its way over to him. Rick heard the snarling growl of the creature and rolled away, seconds before the Walker stuck its hand through the fence in an attempt to grab his next meal. Rick sprung to his feet, fury taking the place of his pain, and pulled the axe from his waistband.

Rick raised the axe, growling with all the rage he could muster and swung.

The axe sliced cleanly through the arm of the Walker, severing it from the animated body. Throwing the axe down on the ground, Rick pulled his knife and lunged through the fence, jamming it into the eye socket of the wretched thing.

The Walker didn't even twitch, as it fell soundlessly to the ground.

Wiping his sleeve across his mouth to rid himself of the sweat that sprung from his pores, his eyes searched the horizon. That was when he noticed the staggering figure of Daryl in the distance. Narrowing his eyes, for a moment, panic filled him, thinking Daryl had been turned, but then he saw the blanket wrapped figure Daryl was cradling in his arms.

"Glenn! Carl!" Rick shouted as he bolted toward the gate.

Scrambling to undo the lock on the chains holding the gate shut, Rick kept his eyes glued on Daryl.

"Glenn! Distract those damn things!" Rick shouted, pointing a ways down the fenceline in order to get Glenn to make noise that would draw the Walkers away from Daryl.

Seeing a Walker moving quickly toward the unarmed Daryl, Rick pulled his gun and shot. He could see Maggie scrambling up the stairs to the tower and Carl was racing toward Rick. There were three Walkers that were ignoring the racket that Glenn was making, heading straight for Daryl and the body he was struggling to carry.

He could see the exhaustion on Daryl's face and wondered how long he'd been carrying the person, but pushed away the thoughts to focus on getting him safely inside.

Carol had come racing out to take the place of Glenn who was now shooting one of the Walkers who had broken off to go after Daryl. Hitting him square in the back of the head, Rick knew that it was one Walker that wouldn't be getting up again.

Daryl was within 20 yards, so Rick raced toward him, shooting another Walker in the head to clear his path. Daryl was stumbling now, and just as Rick got to him, he fell to his knees, panting for air. Rick reached out and quickly grabbed the blanket wrapped body before it hit the ground.

"Thanks." Daryl wheezed between breaths, struggling to get back up on his shaking legs. "I've been running for 2 miles."

Rick nodded, holding out his burdened arm to hand Daryl his gun. Taking it quickly, Daryl shot another Walker who had gotten too close.

"Come on." Rick started running for the gate, Daryl behind him picking off stragglers that came too close.

Hurrying through the gate, Carl slammed it shut before the staggering creatures could get to them. Pushing the lock into place, Carl tested it, before rushing to catch up with Rick and Daryl who made their way straight for the cell block.

By this time, Hershel met them at the door as they rushed inside. It wasn't until Rick got to their makeshift infirmary that he bothered to look down at what he was carrying.

"Put her down over there." Hershel gestured with one of his crutches, while Maggie cleared everything off the table he was about to place her on.

Daryl rushed over to their side.

"She was beaten. The son of a bitch stomped on her ribs. I'm pretty sure they're broken. I was just worried that something might be wrong with her lungs. She wasn't breathing right neither." Daryl ran a frantic hand through his hair, his hand coming to rest on the back of his neck.

Seeing that he was out of breath, Maggie handed Daryl a cup of cold water.

"Here. Drink this." Maggie urged, almost putting the cup in his other hand for him.

Daryl grabbed it gratefully, tilting his head back to gulp the water down quickly. Handing the cup back to Maggie, Daryl stepped closer to Hershel who was trying to unwrap the blankets from around her. Daryl grabbed hold of Hershel's arm for a moment, surprising Hershel, who looked up at him.

"She don't have no clothes on. I'm pretty sure that beatin' wasn't the worst they done to her." Daryl said quietly, not wanting the youngsters to overhear.

For a moment, Hershel looked into Daryl's eyes as he fully comprehended what Daryl was saying.

Hershel nodded.

"Everyone else, I need some room to breathe. Maggie, Daryl, I'll need you to stay." Hershel started issuing orders.

Hershel waited to give everyone a chance to leave. He noticed that Rick had backed up to the door, but didn't leave the room, which was fine. Rick was merely concerned for the group.

"She ain't bit is she?" Rick asked softly.

Daryl took a deep breath and looked at Rick, catching his eyes intently.

"Not by a Walker." Daryl answered quietly, holding Rick's gaze so he would understand his meaning.

Rick nodded, his mouth forming into a frown as he realized what Daryl meant.

Maggie carefully peeled the blanket away from the girl's body, her breath catching in her throat as she took in the mangled and bruised form that lay on the table.

"Ah Christ." Maggie swore, earning her a sour look from her father.

She could clearly see the bootprint on the front of this girl's ribs and various other bruises covering her. Her arm was encased in Daryl's makeshift splint, which meant that there was a good chance it was broken. Her face was cut and bruised from being hit more than once and visible handprints could be seen around her neck from where someone tried to strangle her. The most disturbing injury, however, was the one that had caused the trails of blood that had once run down the inside of her thighs.

It was obvious that this girl had been raped, beaten, and left for dead.

Daryl couldn't stand the thought of the poor girl just lying there cold and naked so he grabbed a sheet from the bed that was adjacent to them and covered her legs with it. He knew it was ridiculous, since Hershel would be examining every inch of her, but it made him feel better.

Hershel quickly assessed her, noting the most crucial bruising came from the bruising on her ribs. Without an x-ray, however, there was no way to tell if a rib had punctured a lung, or if the kick had caused internal bleeding.

"How bad is it?" Daryl asked quietly, almost afraid to utter a sound. He saw the look on Hershel's face and knew that it wasn't a good sign, but he needed to know.

Hershel took a deep breath before answering.

"Honestly, I don't know. Without an x-ray, it's hard to tell. Her breathing is shallow, but that could be from shock." He answered, beginning to unwrap the splint Daryl had made.

Daryl let out his breath and began chewing on his lip nervously. He felt helpless and there was one thing he could do to help.

"Fix her up as best you can. I'll be back in a little while." Daryl stated, picking up his crossbow and slinging it over his back.

Maggie looked at him curiously before asking, "What er you doin?"

Daryl smiled mirthlessly.

"I'm gonna get us an x-ray machine." He stated before looking at Rick for agreement.

Rick looked at the incredibly still figure of the girl before looking back at Daryl and nodding.

"Let's go." He stated, as he shoved his hat on his head and turned to walk toward the prison Infirmary.


	3. Chapter 3

It had only been three days since Lori had died and Daryl hadn't seen Rick sleep once. The exhaustion had taken its toll on him too, between the black circles under his eyes and the glazed look he carried with him, he wasn't sure how much longer he could make it.

Daryl took point, his mind starting to wander to the disastrous last few days. Lori, T-Dog, and for a while, they thought Carol had been lost too. Somehow, she managed to fight her way through a small crowd of Walkers and into a room where she'd been hiding. His spirit had gone numb with the losses. His emotions ran dry and he felt his mind becoming distant, that is until he had accidentally stumbled upon her in that room. Shocked that she was alive, he felt hope start spreading through him, bringing his heavy limbs back to life.

Carol represented a goodness that he had thought was long gone, or perhaps never existed to begin with. Having grown up the way he did, he couldn't imagine anyone so innately good-natured. She became the first person that he had cared about.

It wasn't a complicated feeling like love. It was born out of appreciation for her friendship. She had been a safe harbor in the horrors of this world.

He was sad that T-Dog and Lori had died as well. T-Dog was the first black man that he had known; really known. He never had the opportunity to have friends of other races. Not with Merle around. He knew that everyone thought he was a racist, but it was more out of habit than hatred. He really didn't have any opinions about different races. He just never met any, until T-Dog.

T-Dog was a solid guy. Always there when you needed him. Brave, but not stupid. Self-less, but not a victim. He had been a strong and dependable member of the group, and Daryl appreciated that.

It was Lori that really threw him, though. Not because he liked her especially. She was a tad too preachy for that, but because she had acted as the matriarch of their little clan. She was the mom. The mature decision maker who took care of all of the background duties, making sure that things were taken care of. She had been the glue that held the idea of a group together.

Then, she had gotten pregnant, and that had changed everything to him. Suddenly, the group needed him more and more. They needed more food. They needed more safety, and Daryl felt it for the first time. What it felt like to be needed.

They were going to have to change a lot if they hoped to protect an infant in this world and Daryl felt the same overwhelming feeling of protectiveness wash over him, like he had when Sophia had gone missing. He wasn't about to lose this baby too.

Not a chance in hell.

Glancing over at Rick, it reminded him of how much he had lost, and it made him admire Rick more. Even though he was in agony, Rick kept trudging on. The only other person he knew with that kind of strength, was Merle and in a way, Rick was stronger than Merle, who just didn't care about anyone but himself.

Merle was a terrible human being. Daryl knew that, but he was all he had left in the world…until he met these guys.

They had become the family he never had. They showed him what a family was supposed to act like and though he hid it, he cared about them a lot, but there was still a small part of him that he hid out of fear of rejection or being hurt.

"You got the keys?" Rick asked, snapping Daryl out of his reverie.

Daryl pulled them out of his pocket, shaking them in the air like bells to show Rick.

"Yup." He answered.

"We're gonna have to clear one room at a time." Rick stated, motioning to Daryl to open the locked gate.

"Carl's already been down here once, but he made a fast trip. He didn't sweep it." Daryl stated.

"What!?" Rick snapped, startled that Carl would do something so foolish.

Daryl almost laughed at Rick's response. _Shit! That kid was never where he was supposed to be. Why the hell would it shock Rick that he'd come down here?_ Daryl thought to himself.

He didn't say it, but he was shaking his head as he passed through the open gate, watching Rick close it behind them.

There were two doors up ahead and the hallway was silent. Daryl held up a hand and paused for a moment, turning his head to the side to listen for any groaning or scraping.

Nothing. It was silent as the grave.

_Terrible expression, Dixon. What the hell?_ He thought to himself.

"You get the room on the right." Rick pointed at the doorway up ahead of Daryl.

"Got it." Daryl replied, sliding into the doorway with his crossbow sweeping from right to left as he assessed the room.

"Clear." Daryl stated before shutting the door behind him.

Rick had the axe in his right hand which was poised to strike in case he found a Walker in the other room, but nothing was there.

"Clear." Rick echoed, pulling the door shut as he exited the room.

Both men surveyed the hallway ahead of them. The small, slatted windows showed enough light that they could see that the hallway ahead of them was clear as well. There were no doors until the hallway bent to the right, so they started forward.

Upon reaching the corner, Daryl ducked his head quickly around to peek, but pulled back quickly when he heard what sounded like a squeaky door. Holding his hand up in a signal to stop, Daryl motioned to Rick with the warning.

Daryl began moving quietly down the hallway, crossbow poised for attack. It was then that he heard the disgusting slurping sound of something feeding. Pointing to the room where the noise was coming from, Rick scooted by him and flattened himself against the wall just outside the room. Daryl took a deep breath, then stepped in front of the door.

There on the floor was a Walker crouched over a human leg which it held in its hand.

"Nasty." Daryl said, pulling the trigger and landing a shot right through the sloppy skull of the creature.

Watching it topple over, Daryl entered the room and kicked it to the side of the human leg, pulling his arrow out as the body fell to the ground.

That's when he noticed T-Dog's boot on the very end of the leg.

"Sonofa bitch!" Daryl swore, scrunching up his face in disgust.

"What?" Rick asked, moving toward Daryl now that the rest of the room was swept.

"T-Dog" Daryl said as he pointed at the leg.

"Shit." Rick whispered, as the fury started to come back to him.

"SHIT!" Rick shouted, causing Daryl to turn and snap sharply at him.

"Shhh!" Daryl whispered harshly, "Unless you want to attract every goddam Walker within the area."

"Jesus Christ." Daryl muttered to himself as he stepped back out into the hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

Hershel and Maggie talked quietly as they worked. Hershel was putting the last stitches into the cut above her eye as Maggie gently cleaned the dirt and debris off of the girl. Maggie didn't like the thought of the poor girl lying completely exposed so she kept the sheet on the part of her body she wasn't washing at the time. The bruises were obvious against her pale white skin. Fingerprints were visible around her wrists, on her thighs, and around her neck, making Maggie's jaw set tight.

She didn't have to ask what had happened to her. She could tell by the location of the bruises and the blood between her thighs.

Maggie shook her head, trying to fight the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes, as she dipped the rag into the clean water. Squeezing the excess liquid out of it, she started washing between her legs, cleaning the proof of her violation away.

_What a sick world! She thought to herself._ The saddest part was that these were the same people who lived in the world before this, but for some reason, now that there was no civilization, they had all turned into animals.

"Dammit!" She swore out loud, earning a disapproving glare from her father.

She threw the rag into the washbasin angrily and turned away from the girl. She wiped at her eyes furiously and stared down at her feet.

"This could be Beth, Daddy." She spit out, choking on tears. "What the hell kind of people do this?"

Hershel had been washing away the blood on his hands, having the exact same thoughts.

"Evil people." He said softly, as he walked around to Maggie's side of the table.

Placing his hands on her shoulders, he pulled her close to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her to him like he had done when she was just a little girl.

Maggie, however, didn't want comfort. She wanted to be angry. Pushing against her father, she clenched her jaw and grabbed the cloth again. Hershel watched his daughter sadly, knowing there was nothing he could do to comfort her.

Maggie began cleaning the stitches above her eye and then looked up at her father, her shoulders sagging in defeat. It didn't do any good to be angry. It wouldn't change anything.

"Will you hand me the antibiotic ointment?" She asked softly, holding her hand out to him.

Hershel placed the tube gently in her hand and squeezed.

She had always been the strong one. Spunky and determined, getting herself in all kinds of trouble, he knew that if anyone could make it in this world, it would be her.

He watched as Maggie used a q-tip to daub the ointment onto the stitches before covering it with bandaids.

Sitting back to observe her work, Maggie assessed the girl lying on the table. The girl's breathing had evened out, which was a good sign, and although she was incredibly still and pale, she had hope that she would survive.

Hopping off of the stool, Maggie went over to the cabinet where they had stored extra clothes and rummaged through them until she found a warm men's plaid and a pair of underwear. Going back over to the table, Maggie carefully dressed the girl in the oversized shirt and gently pulled the underwear up her legs and over her hips, trying not to disturb the stitches between her legs either.

Grabbing one of the heavier blankets and a pillow, she lifted the girl's head and slid the pillow under it, before covering her with the warm blanket.

"When Rick and Daryl get back, we'll have them move her onto a mattress so she's more comfortable." Hershel said as he cleaned up the mess they made.

"How long do you think she'll stay unconscious?" Maggie asked worriedly.

"I don't know. She's definitely got a concussion, so it's hard to tell." He said, walking around the table to stand next to Maggie.

"I'll stay with her, Dad. You go rest for a while. You're still recovering yourself." Maggie chided him lovingly.

Hershel smiled at her "mothering" of him and nodded.

"I'll call ya if she comes to." She stated, before leaning back against the wall to rest.

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"Over here!" Daryl called out to Rick who was going through a cabinet, looking at the bottles for anything useful.

Busting the lock off of one of the cabinets, Daryl found the surplus of painkillers and psychotropics and stuffed them into the bag he was carrying.

"We hit the jackpot. Painkillers, valium…Merle'd be in heaven." Daryl smirked.

Rick moved toward Daryl, checking out the rest of the room. Finding a cart, he started loading it up with supplies they might need; bandages, splints, cast-making supplies-they had it all. Daryl was padding the glass bottles with towels and bandages so they didn't break.

"We still gotta find that stupid x-ray machine." Daryl said, lifting his flashlight to shine it through the windows into the next room.

Rick nodded, moving toward the door of the other room. Trying the doorknob, Rick found that it was locked. Pulling out the keys, he unlocked the door and began moving through it.

Before he could take one step, however, a walker came out of nowhere, and threw itself on him.

"Shit!" Rick yelled, pushing frantically at the walker so he could raise it up enough to shoot it.

_BAM!_ The gunshot resonated through the entire place, startling Daryl and causing him to swing his crossbow toward Rick. Hurrying over toward him, he kept one hand on the crossbow, and offered the other to help Rick up. Grasping his arm, he pulled Rick to his feet, just in time for the next walker to come stumbling out of the other room.

"Look out!" Daryl shouted, as he shot it through the eye, dropping it to the ground instantly.

Rick swung around, growling as three more began pouring into the room. Daryl moved quickly, closing the outer door, leaving only the one door through which the walkers could enter. Flashing his light in that direction, he lit up the neighboring room, which now appeared to be empty.

Better safe than sorry, he moved stealthily into the room, swinging his crossbow toward all of the corners, one at a time. Once he was sure the room was empty, he lowered it, taking in the equipment inside the room.

"There." Daryl said, pointing toward the x-ray machine.

"It's too big to move." Rick sighed.

"But we can bring her here." Daryl started walking toward a gurney which lay tucked away in the far corner of the room.

"Good thinkin'." Rick answered, moving back into the other room to grab the supplies and tossing them onto the gurney.

"You push, I'll cover us." Daryl said, as he moved toward the door.

And with that, they waded into the hallway.


	5. Chapter 5

Glen quietly entered the room, glancing over at the unconscious form of the strange girl Daryl had brought back with him. He quietly opened the gate, entering the room where Maggie rested her head against the wall. Her eyes opened upon hearing his soft footsteps and she smiled sorrowfully.

"Hey." Glenn whispered, putting his hand on her knee before sitting down next to her.

"Hey." She answered, looking down at him.

"She all right?" Glenn asked, looking at Maggie's face for the answer.

"I guess that depends on what you mean by all right." Maggie stated, glancing over at the girl.

"She gonna live?" Glenn simplified it for her, knowing that something pretty horrible had happened to the girl.

"Daddy thinks so. We won't know for sure until they get back with that x-ray machine." Maggie leaned forward, wiping a hand under both her eyes to clear the last traces of tears from her cheeks.

"Do we know what happened to her yet?" Glenn asked, taking Maggie's hand in his.

"Assholes…evil f-ing assholes. That's what happened to her." Maggie snorted in disgust.

Glenn nodded, getting a vague idea of what had happened.

"Raping her wasn't enough. Those sons a bitches beat the living shit out of her so bad they left bootprints on her ribs." Maggie was getting angry now, needing to let off a little steam.

Glenn cringed, letting out his breath in a slow, steady stream.

"I'm sorry, Maggie." Glenn didn't know why he was apologizing, but he felt the need to. For a minute, he was horrified at being a male, at being part of the sex capable of such an act. It made him angry. The world had gone to shit, and this is what his gender decides to do. He had to remind himself that not all men were this way. He was surrounded by a group who would never do anything like that.

"Hey." Maggie nudged him with her knee. "It's not your fault. I'm sorry."

Glenn smirked, amused that she had known what he was thinking.

"Evil is evil. Men or women. It just…it just makes me sick." Maggie added, trying to make Glenn feel a little better. Maybe she was trying to make herself feel a little better too.

Leaning into each other, Maggie laid her head on Glenn's shoulder as he laid his head on top of hers. Together, they sat quietly, until they heard a strange squeaking sound, followed by a _thump…thump…thump._

"What the hell?" Glenn hopped to his feet and walked to the doorway. He immediately saw what was making the noise and smiled in surprise.

Daryl and Rick pushed the gurney toward him as Glenn opened the gate. Hershel had heard the sound of the gurney coming and started making his way toward them.

"We can't move the machine. It's attached to the wall, so we brought the gurney so we could move her to it." Daryl said, quickly moving all of the supplies off of the gurney so they could put her on it.

"Good thinkin'." Hershel said as he moved toward the girl to check her vitals.

Touching the tips of his fingers to her wrist, he felt the steady drum of her pulse. _A good sign_, he thought to himself.

"You didn't happen to find a stethoscope down there did you?" He asked, moving her arms onto the stomach so they could carry her off of the table.

"Yeah. There's a lot of stuff down there." Daryl answered.

Daryl moved quickly toward her, noticing that she had turned her head to the side and watched her closely. Her eyelids fluttered before opening slightly, but her pupils were enormous.

"Hershel." Daryl motioned with his head, nodding down at her semi-open eyes.

Hershel hopped over toward her once again and tilted his head so he could see her face better.

"Let me see your flashlight." Hershel said, not taking his eyes off of her.

Daryl quickly pulled it out and handed it to him, watching intently as Hershel gently used his thumb to open her eyelid a little farther. Flashing the light in her eye for a moment, Hershel could tell that she definitely had a concussion. Her pupils were slow to respond. The moment, however, the light hit her eyes, she made a pitiful wailing sound and threw her arm up to block the light. Her coordination was terrible, and Daryl moved quickly to grasp her arm so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Upon feeling someone grab her arm, her eyes opened a little wider, and a shriek of terror was ripped from her throat.

"Woah…woah…easy." Daryl said soothingly to her, like he would to a small child, gently lowering her hand to her side once again and squeezing it reassuringly.

Hershel took the source of her agitation away and looked down at her face. He knew that she couldn't focus, but her eyes were staring straight at Daryl who stood over her on the other side of the table.

"Let's move her." Hershel said, standing awkwardly on his good leg.

Daryl couldn't break her intense stare, even though he knew she couldn't really see him. Running his fingertips gently along her cheek, she turned her face toward his hand, as if seeking comfort and laid her cheek in his palm, as her eyelids drifted shut again.

Daryl's heart skipped a beat.

Pushing away the soft tugging on his heart, Daryl started sliding his arms under her shoulders while Rick put his under her knees.

"One, two, three." Rick counted, lifting her gently and placing her gently on the gurney.

"Let's go." Daryl said as he began wheeling the gurney down the hallway. Glenn rushed ahead to take up point, just in case, and Maggie grabbed her dad's medical bag.

The group moved quickly to the infirmary without any difficulty. Rick and Daryl lifted her onto the x-ray machine while Maggie and Hershel got it up and running.

"Good thing we got that generator goin'." Daryl said, as he peeled the blanket away from her so the x-ray picture was clear.

Daryl's eyes drifted down to her face for a moment, taking in the battered features. She was pale, no doubt, but underneath the bruises was an incredibly beautiful woman. Her features were delicate, with gently winged eyebrows that arched over her sooty-lashed eyes. He didn't know what color her eyes were yet, but he imagined brown to go with her dark, coppery hair. Laying there, even battered as she was, she looked like an angel.

"How's she doin?" Hershel called out to Daryl, startling him out of his thoughts.

Jumping a little, Daryl straightened up, blushing as he remembered that there were other people in the room.

"She's uh...she's fine." He called back, peeking up at Rick who stood across from him. Thankfully, Rick was too busy looking at Hershel readying the machine to notice.

Maggie and Glenn were gathering more supplies and piling them onto another gurney they'd found a minute ago.

"Dad! I found IV supplies. Bags of saline...lines..." Maggie called out, pulling the tubing out from a lower cabinet and shoving it all into a bag.

"Depending on what we find, we might need them, so grab as much as you can." Hershel called back.

Daryl was starting to get impatient. In the back of his head he was worried that all of this had been for nothing. That they were going to discover that she was bleeding to death from the inside out and she was going to die. The thought made his stomach knot so he pushed the thought away.

"How we comin Hershel?" Rick called out, giving voice to Daryl's impatience.

"We're ready." Hershel said as he began moving back into the room so he could use the x-ray machine.

Looking around for a moment, Hershel pointed toward the lead apron that hung from the hook on the wall.

"Hand me that, Daryl." He said, turning back to the girl on the table.

Moving her hands to her sides, Hershel pulled the x-ray camera down to position it over her left side and abdomen. Daryl approached, handing him the apron, which he laid on top of her lower abdomen.

"You really worried about cancer?" Daryl asked, snorting at the absurdity of it.

"No. But if she's pregnant, it protects the baby." Hershel retorted.

"Jesus." Daryl swore, running his hand through his hair in irritation.

"I doubt she is. There was too much damage done to her, but just in case." Hershel reassured him upon seeing his agitation.

Daryl began pacing.

"All right, Maggie. I want you to click that button and hold it for 3 seconds." Hershel called out, as he hopped away from the table a bit.

"Aren't you gonna come back here? What about the radiation?" Maggie asked from the other room.

"Maggie, the last thing I'm worried about right now is that." Hershel retorted humorlessly.

"Suit yourself." She replied, mumbling under her breath a little.

They all heard the click of the machine, letting Hershel know that the x-ray had been taken.

"All right, Maggie. We're gonna move positions a bit, then you'll do it again, okay?" Hershel stated loudly enough for her to hear it.

"Sure thing." She replied.

"Daryl, help me turn her on her side." Hershel moved her arm so Daryl could tip her on her side.

"I'm gonna have ta hold her like this. She'll fall back down if I don't." Daryl said, easing the girl onto her side.

"That's fine. Unless you're worried about radiation." Hershel chuckled.

"Hell na. I'm worried about gettin my face eaten by a walker, or gettin shot by one a you yahoo's, but an x-ray..." Daryl smirked at the smiling Hershel.

"All right, Maggie. Now." Hershel called out again.

_Click._

Daryl laid her gently down on her back while Hershel placed her broken arm on one of the x-ray plates.

"We're gonna do two more, then we're done. This one's for her arm." Hershel adjusted it so that the "X" lined up just the right way.

"Go ahead, Maggie." He told her, waiting for the click before repositioning her arm once again.

"And again." Maggie pushed the button and the x-rays were completed.

Daryl was about to wrap her in the blanket once again, but Hershel stopped him from covering her entirely.

"Hold on. Leave her arm out. We've got the supplies. I'm gonna cast her arm so its stabilized." Hershel began grabbing plaster sleeves and other supplies from the bag they had filled earlier.

"Go fill that pail with hot water." Hershel told Daryl who grabbed it and walked toward the sink.

Bringing the pail over to him, he watched as Hershel began the process of making a cast for her broken arm.


	6. Chapter 6

Daryl stood over Hershel's shoulder looking at the x-rays. He could easily see the three broken ribs and cringed, anger surging through him once again.

"She's damn lucky." Hershel said, as he surveyed the pictures. "The ribs didn't break off and nothing seems to have punctured her lung."

Hershel patted Daryl on the shoulder as he gimped away. "You saved her life. They'd of killed her eventually."

Daryl closed his eyes and sighed in relief.

He hadn't been able to save Dale…Sophia…Amy…T-Dog…Lori…none of them. For some reason, this girl's survival meant the world to him, and he swore nothing bad would ever happen to her again.

"Daryl!" He heard Maggie from down the hallway calling to him. "She's awake!"

Daryl turned and quickly made his way back to the cell block where Maggie met him at the gate to let him in. He moved past her and into the room where she lay on the bed. Her head was turned to the side looking at Beth who sat on the bed beside her. Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she surveyed the room frantically. He knew what fear looked like and saw the panic in her eyes clearly.

Rick, Glenn, and Hershel stood outside the room, trying not to be seen. They all knew that they would probably scare her if she saw them so they stayed hidden for now. Daryl did no such thing and immediately moved toward the bed.

The girl's eyes flew up toward him immediately and stared, her brow furrowing with confusion. Lifting her hand weakly, she brought it to her throbbing and bruised cheek.

"Hey…hey…don't touch that." Daryl said quietly as he moved to sit down where Beth had just moved from.

"S'allright." He whispered, taking hold of her arm very gently so as not to startle her.

"You're covered in bumps and bruises, so don't go poking at em, k?" He slowly lowered her arm to her side, her eyes following his hand and hers.

Her eyes lifted back to search his face. He smiled reassuringly and brushed a stray strand of her curly, coppery curls away from her face.

She opened her mouth slightly to try to speak, but all that came out was a croak.

"Beth. Will you get her some water?" Daryl turned slightly to look over his shoulder at the teenager, who nodded.

"Don't try to talk yet. Beth's gonna get you some water." Daryl explained gently as he gazed into her luminous eyes.

He could tell that she was still dazed, not knowing where she was or what had happened. He was about to say something when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Turning, he saw Beth with the cup, and took it from her.

"Thanks, kiddo." He said warmly as he took the cup from here. He liked Beth. She was sweet and kind of shy, but had proven herself useful as well. In another life, he could have seen her as a nurse.

"I'm gonna help you drink this, k? He asked, not really waiting for an answer. Slipping his arm under her shoulders, he lifted her slightly. Pressing the cup to her lips, he tilted it until she could drink the water.

The girl was so thirsty that she tried to reach up to grab the cup herself, but suddenly noticed the cast on her other arm and cried out.

"It's okay. Your arm's broken so we put a cast on it." Daryl explained, as he lowered her back down.

Her eyes frantically searched his, before jumping back to staring at her arm, then back to his face again. He knew the moment that her mind latched onto her memory because her eyes grew wide and fearful, her body trembling with terror.

Whimpering, she tried to pull away from Daryl.

"Hey…look at me. Look at me. You're okay. You're safe. No one's gonna hurtcha." He reassured, grabbing her flailing arms to hold onto them.

Her eyes flew to his face, finding only concern and compassion there, she crumpled, her eyes filling with tears at the horror she remembered suffering.

Daryl saw her face fall and his heart stopped beating for a moment. He felt like someone had just stabbed him in his chest and it only took a second for his natural inclination to kick in. Despite her fear, Daryl wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest, and laid his head on top of hers as sobs racked her body.

"Shhh. It's all right." He knew it didn't matter what he said, it was the tone of his voice that mattered. He knew her ribs had to hurt like a sonofabitch, despite the painkillers they had injected her with, but he began to rock her back and forth.

"Shhhh." He cooed, softly, trying to calm the trembling he could feel against him. "You're gonna be okay."

Hershel peeked around the corner when he heard the sobbing and frowned with sadness. He was surprised to see Daryl sitting next to her, holding and rocking her. It wasn't something he expected from him, but he should have known there was more to him then first impressions when he had held "Little Ass-Kicker" and fed her. Underneath all of that gruff redneck exterior beat a heart of gold.

Hershel smiled, before quietly entering the room.

Her sobs had diminished to trembling followed by sharp intakes of breath every once in a while, but Daryl held her close, just rocking her slowly for comfort.

Hershel moved toward the cabinet to get a syringe ready in case she needed more pain medication. He waved it quietly in front of Daryl to make sure he saw it and waited for Daryl to nod in acknowledgement before turning back to leave the room.

Beth followed quietly behind, leaving them alone in the room.

Daryl sat, holding her to him for what felt like forever. She was quiet now, her fingers tangled in Daryl's shirt, holding on for dear life. He lifted his head from on top of hers and looked down at her face. Her eyes had drifted shut again and he knew that she was falling asleep from a mixture of exhaustion and the medication.

He waited until her breathing evened out before lowering her back down to the bed. He unclenched her fingers from his shirt and pulled her blanket up to tuck her in. Looking down at her again, he sighed, before standing up. He walked to the door, looking for Carol who looked up when she heard him, and smiled.

Carol stood up, putting down the pants she was mending, before walking over to the quiet corner he now waited in.

"How is she?" She asked quietly.

"I dunno." He shrugged, feeling exhausted.

"Why don't you get some sleep? I'll sit with her." Carol suggested gently, reaching out to pat his arm supportively.

"Thanks." He said, before walking out of the cell block to blow off steam.

####################################################################################

It was incredibly quiet in the cell block. She hated it when it was that quiet. Everyone else had gone to sleep and Daryl was nowhere to be found. Not that it surprised her, but she had to admit that she was a bit scared. Picking up her gun, she rolled the chamber around a few times, making sure it was loaded, then laid it back down. She felt for the axe that she had slipped through her belt, its cold, heavy weight making her feel better. She picked up the book she now read 5 times, and began reading. It took three tries before she realized that no matter how many times she tried, she just wasn't into it tonight so she dropped the book with disgust.

Standing, she pressed her hands to her lower back, stretching backward to ease her tense muscles before walking over to the sink to get some water. Just as she was about to turn the water on, she heard a strange sound and turned sharply to listen.

_Silence._

Taking a deep breath, she chided herself for being jumpy.

_Stop it, Carol. You're being ridiculous._

Running her hands through her hair, she reached down to pick up her discarded blanket to fold it when she heard the noise again. Quietly, she grabbed her gun and began moving toward the door, stopping when she got in the entryway to listen.

_Skkrreeeeee._ She heard it again, the sound of metal scraping on cement.

Chills covered her entire body this time and she hurried over toward where Rick lay sleeping. She felt bad, but needed to wake someone up.

"Rick!" Carol whispered as loudly as she could.

"Rick!" Touching the top of his shoulder to wake him, she shrieked when he reached out with lightning speed and grabbed her by the throat.

The cold, darkness surrounded Rick, encroaching on his sanity. His gnarled hand was squeezing the life out of the walker in front of him, but then he realized that walkers didn't breathe. Frowning in confusion, Rick stared at the face of the walker and was stunned when it began to contort into the face of Carol.

Her eyes wide with terror, Carol held onto Rick's hands which were around her throat. She didn't even hear Glenn who had jumped up, wide awake, when he heard Rick's growl and dove to grab him before he could hurt Carol.

Grabbing ahold of Rick, Glenn was shouting in his ear.

"Rick! Let her go!" Glenn and Maggie were tugging on his arms.

"Rick!" Maggie screamed.

Suddenly, the dam broke and reality came crashing in on Rick. Startled, he let go of Carol and quickly glanced around him, taking in the situation. Staggering backward, he choked on a cry of sadness, shaking his head in confusion.

"No…sorry…sorry…" He mumbled incoherently.

Carol held onto her neck and drew in a couple of deep breaths. Glenn let go of Rick but got between he and Carol, while Maggie moved to help Carol.

"I'm okay." Carol assured.

Rick's face crumpled and he moved near to Carol, putting his hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry, Carol. I'm sorry. I was dreaming." His face was crestfallen and Carol knew that he hadn't meant to hurt her.

She moved to comfort him, putting her hands on his arms.

"It's okay, Rick. I'm okay." She whispered to him.

"I just…I'm…" Rick didn't know what to say. He knew he was losing it and didn't know what to do next. The group needed him and he couldn't afford to have a nervous breakdown. It would mean the death of everyone that he had come to care about, and he couldn't lose anyone else.

Carol steered him to a chair and sat down next to him.

"I should have been more careful." Carol stated, putting her hand over his in comfort.

Then she heard the sound again and jumped up.

"There it is again!" Carol called out, jumping to her feet, her body turning in the direction of the sound.

Glenn and Maggie looked confused.

"What?" Maggie asked.

"That sound. That's why I was waking Rick up. I heard it earlier. It's creepy." Carol folded her arms across her chest protectively. Something about it made her nervous.

"I don't hear anything." Maggie whispered, trying to listen as well.

Everyone went silent, turning their heads toward the direction she said the sound came from, but the sound wasn't heard again.


	7. Chapter 7

Daryl didn't even try to sleep. Instead, he decided to go back to the infirmary and clear the rest of the area out of walkers. His mind kept racing through the events of the last week. There was a part of him that had started feeling numb, like it was closing off to the world, but the baby had crashed through the walls he had been building, leaving him a different man.

Merle had always said he was weak, calling him a "sissy boy" and "Darylina". It used to hurt…not so much the name calling, but the fact that Merle looked down on him. It wasn't until he had become part of the group that he started thinking about who he was. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Daryl acted different when Merle was around and that bothered him.

He wanted to be his own man.

Daryl felt it before he heard it. Some sort of weird sixth sense made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It wasn't until he stopped to listen that he heard the eerie sound of metal scraping on cement.

_Hell,_ he thought¸ _maybe he was a sissy body._

Snorting in self-disgust, Daryl continued down the hallway toward the infirmary.

He and Rick had already cleared the front portion of the area. The only parts left were the individual rooms that made up the hospital wing. He was about to open the double doors when he decided that he was being stupid. He didn't know the layout down here and he'd need at least one other person to clear both sides safely. He couldn't be reckless anymore. Too many people were depending on him.

_Shit!_ He thought. He was turning soft, but with that thought in mind, he turned back around and headed toward the cell block.

He didn't notice the shadowy form that had been watching from the storage room.

#####################################################################################

Daryl was surprised when he returned to see that everyone was awake. All heads turned toward him as he entered, causing him to pause for a second.

"What?" he snapped irritably. "What'r you all looking at?"

It was Carol who broke the tension when she burst out laughing. The group had been sitting around telling ghost stories like teen agers and had gotten themselves so good and scared that they all dragged their mattresses into the middle of the cell block. Waiting to hear the sound that Carol swore she heard, they all jumped out of their skin when Daryl turned the corner.

"You scared the shit out of us!" Carol accused, laughter bubbling over as she clutched her chest in a mock heart attack.

"What's wrong with you people?" Daryl asked disgustedly, shoving his crossbow across the table and flinging his pack on the floor.

Everyone laughed as Daryl glared at them.

"What!?" Throwing his hands up in irritation, Daryl stomped over to the room where the girl lay sleeping.

"Idiots." He muttered under his breath, walking into the room with one last glance over her shoulder at the giggling imbeciles in the other room.

Looking over at the bed, he saw that the girl was watching him and his face immediately lost its frown. His expression softening, he walked slowly over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

"Sleeping beauty's awake." He said softly, smiling gently at her.

"Katelyn." She whispered.

It took Daryl a moment before he figured out that she was offering him her name. He smiled in response.

"Katelyn." Daryl repeated, trying the name out. "Katelyn….?"

Katelyn ducked her head down, refusing to look him in the eye.

"Just Katelyn." She answered, avoiding the answer to his question.

Daryl realized immediately that she wasn't going to answer him. It made him wonder why. Normally, he would have felt suspicious but he was more curious than anything.

"Well, 'Just Katelyn'", he joked, "You up to eatin' something?"

She looked back up at him, having expected him to be upset with her, so when he started joking with her, she was surprised.

"I'll be right back." Daryl got up and jogged into the other room. The others watched him curiously as he rifled through the bag for something to eat.

Carol stood up and walked over to the Tupperware bowls that contained dinner from that night.

"Here-" Carol said, grabbing silverware to scoop out some food onto a plate. "Let me help."

"She's awake." He stated in his characteristic monosyllabic style.

Carol sighed in relief.

"Is she talking?" She asked as she closed the container back up.

"Yeah." At this point, he was being intentionally difficult.

Carol snorted in mock irritation, slapping his arm gently.

"You're so difficult." She scolded playfully.

Daryl couldn't help himself. He smirked as Carol shoved the plate toward him.

He took the plate and hook a mug with his little finger, calling out over his shoulder with a grin, "Katelyn. Her name's Katelyn."

Carol and the others watched him leave the room.

##################################################################################

The Governor stood on the heap of twisted metal and debris that formed a barricade against the ugly world outside. The men were quietly talking as they walked the ramparts looking for threats. He couldn't sleep, his thoughts kept turning to the day she disappeared. They had fought the night before, an ugly fight where he had lashed out at her for daring to challenge his authority. She had said horrible things to him, calling him a _monster_. When he struck her, he instantly felt guilty and grabbed her to him to apologize, but she had run.

Even when she was young, she had been feisty, fighting against anyone who would perpetuate injustice. It wasn't his fault that she couldn't understand the necessity of these times.

She had come to him, shaking with rage, and accused him of many things. During the argument, she called him a murderer and a liar. He had slapped her across the face so hard that she had fallen on the ground. If she'd have just stayed there, it wouldn't have gotten out of hand but she had pushed herself back up. Before he could stop her, she marched over to the closet and ripped the door open.

Within 2 seconds, the "creature" inside the closet lunged out at her, snapping her jaws in an attempt to rip the flesh from her, but she sidestepped it. The Governor cried out in anguish, realizing that his secret had been exposed. She had found out about her little sister in the most horrifying way and was now mocking him.

"Explain that!" She screamed at him, tears pouring down her face.

The Governor tried to reach out to calm her, but she wouldn't let him.

"Explain that…" She had shouted, breaking down into sobs which accompanied the growls and groans coming from the creature with the bag over its head.

In desperation, Philip grabbed hold of the snarling walker and steered it back into the closet. Fury began building in him and when he turned around to face his eldest daughter, a backhand came with it. Knocking her to the ground, he stood over her full of fury and rage for her disobedience.

"I…don't…have…to explain." He spat out through clenched teeth, grabbing her up by the collar and lifting her to her feet.

Terror seized her as she realized that her father was too far gone to be reasoned with. The primal instinct within her told her that he was now a threat to her. His eyes had gone cold.

Bunching up her legs, she pulled them back, then kicked him for all she was worth.

_Uhhh!_ The wind was knocked out of him as she launched herself backward, away from him, landing on her back on the hardwood floor. The Governor stumbled backward, bent over at the waist as he tried to take deep breaths against the wrenching pain of getting kicked in the balls.

Scrambling to her feet, she raced over to the cabinet where he kept the guns and wrenched one free. Because of the danger this world presented, he kept them loaded in case they were needed instantly. Grabbing a box of shells, she scrambled toward the back bedroom where she frantically lifted the window. She could hear him stumbling down the hallway toward the room and knew she only had a few seconds before he got there.

Shoving the shotgun out the window, she was about to climb out when she felt a vice-like grip on her ankle. Yanking her back through the window, she smacked her head on the ledge, before slamming into the table next to her. At this point, he was beyond reason, and she turned to look at his face. It was mottled and beet red with veins bulging from exertion and fury.

Dragging her down the hallway by her ankle, she desperately tried to grip onto anything she could find, but to no avail. Throwing her into the living room, the Governor pounced on top of her before she could get to her feet. Balling up his fist, he punched her in the stomach, knocking the wind out of her so she couldn't run.

Desperately gasping for air, she lay there, trembling and pushing at her father. Grabbing a fist full of her hair, Philip lifted her head close to his.

"Now you listen, you bitch." Spit dribbled down his chin, his lips stretched thin in a snarl or rage.

"You will fucking do what I tell you to do or I will beat you within an inch of your life." His eyes were bloodshot, the red veins punctuating his ice cold eyes.

"Do you understand me?" He spit out, causing her to flinch in fear.

She thought about rebelling, but she was scared for her life now. She had never seen him like this and she didn't know if he was so far gone that he didn't care that she was his daughter.

All she could do was nod.


	8. Chapter 8

Daryl watched Katelyn from his perch, as she sat in the grass within the protective fence they secured. Beth picked up a handful of grass and threw it at her playfully, provoking Katelyn to throw a dandelion at her. She was healing fast now, the bruises on her face a nice shade of green that had earned her the nickname, "Gremlin" from Daryl.

She still moved stiffly and tired easily, but the color had come back to her cheeks. From his vantage point, he studied her. Her hair hung in waist-length ringlets of dark copper. It didn't matter how she brushed her hair, it was unruly and like to bounce back into its favorite shape, leaving Kate frustrated beyond all get out most of the time. She tortured that poor hair, pulling it back into braids, horse-tails, and a whole bunch of other terms Daryl had never heard, but Beth seemed to like messing with it. Today, she looked like a fairy tale princess with some sort of loopy braids stuffed with dandelions sprigs draping down her back. As uncooperative as ever, the curls in the front had sprung loose, leaving small ringlets falling about her face.

Daryl had never seen anything so beautiful.

Though she had been shy since being here, he could tell that before this, she had been exuberant and full of life. She didn't talk about her life before and over the past few days, it started to make him extremely curious.

Hopping down from his post, Daryl began making his way toward the group of smiling women.

"Hey." He greeted, in what could only be called Daryl-ese.

All three girls burst out laughing.

Daryl quirked an eyebrow at them which only made them laugh harder.

"Fine." He growled, turning to leave.

"No…no…don't leave." Carol jumped up, grabbing his arm to tug him back to their group.

Katelyn stood up, brushing the grass and leaves off of her lap, and smiling at him shyly. He shook his head slightly to keep from staring but couldn't help notice her little upturned nose and her beautiful jade green eyes which sparkled in the sunlight.

Katelyn was about to say something when they heard shouting.

"Daryl!" It was Rick yelling for him.

He didn't sound panicked so Daryl turned to walk toward him, glancing over his shoulder at the girls who decided to follow him inside.

Arriving inside, he saw a woman lying on the ground and Rick squatting down next to her.

"What's your name?" Rick asked desperately.

The woman didn't answer. She merely glared with intense eyes, scanning the room for threats.

_That woman's a predator_, Daryl thought to himself. He could see it in her eyes. Noticing the sword laying on the floor, Daryl confirmed his suspicion.

"Your name? What's your name?" Rick asked again, this time sounding irritated.

The woman stared up at him with narrowed eyes and though gritted teeth, she answered, "Michonne".

"That's better." Rick stated.

Michonne turned her head to the side, eyeing her sword and suddenly lurched up to grab it. Rick kicked the sword out of her way.

"Now we ain't gonna hurtcha unless you do something stupid." Rick assured her and warned her at the same time.

Michonne laid her head back down on the ground, taking deep breaths. Daryl could see the nasty wound on her leg and all the blood staining her pants. She was a tough chick, that was for sure.

Daryl walked slowly over toward Rick who pushed the sword toward him. Bending over, Daryl grabbed it to keep it out of her way. He saw the women coming toward the room and sharply shook his head no at them, stopping all three in their tracks.

"How'd you find this place? Why'd you have baby formula?" Rick asked the prone woman.

She just stared again, causing Rick to get impatient with her.

"I need to know!" He shouted, causing her head to turn sharply toward him.

"An Asian kid and a pretty girl. They were attacked." She spat out through gritted teeth.

Her statement caused everyone's heads to turn. Rick quickly looked back at her.

"Where was this?" He demanded.

"In a town, not too far from here. They was taken." She offered.

Daryl shifted uncomfortably onto his other leg as anger and worry began to work its way up his legs.

"Taken by who?" Rick pressed for more information.

"By a man callin himself the Gov'na." She answered, hissing the name through her teeth in loathing.

Daryl heard the sharp gasp from behind him and turned his head to look. Katelyn was standing behind him with her hand covering her mouth. Her eyes were wide as saucers and she looked pale again. For a second he was worried that she'd reinjured herself, but she quickly dropped her hand and placed a blank expression on her face.

Something was up. Daryl could smell it.

It wasn't the time right now, but he had a feeling that she knew something about this and for the first time since he met her, he let suspicion creep into his mind. Turning his head slowly back to Rick, the thought just hovered in the back of his mind as he listened.

Carol watched the exchange and heard the gasp as well. She saw Katelyn's hands start trembling and wondered as well. Thinking that this had brought back some bad memories, she put her arm around Kate's shoulders and steered her into the other room.

"Where?" Rick questioned.

"There's a town called Woodbury. Just down the road." Michonne said, pulling herself up to a sitting position. "He's proclaimed himself Lord of the Manor. There's a bunch a people livin there."

Rick looked over his shoulder at Daryl who nodded.

"How many?" Rick continued to question.

"Bout 100…maybe a 150. Most just townfolk. Twenty or so armed men." She answered, taking the water bottle he offered her now.

Rick stood back up, nodding at Hershel and pointing at her leg.

"Take care a that. We need to figure out a plan." Rick said, running his hands through his hair.

Daryl was torn. His gut told him that Kate knew something about this Governor and he needed to ask her but he didn't want to scare her. He would just have to make sure Rick took it easy on her.

"Rick." Daryl called out, "I think Kate knows something."

Rick's head swiveled immediately toward Daryl.

"What!?" Rick demanded, striding over to Daryl angrily.

"When Michonne said his name, Kate freaked out." Daryl stated, "I think she knows something."

Rick stood with his hands on his hips, allowing his head to fall forward as he thought about it.

"Let's go talk to her." Rick stated, moving to pass by Daryl, but Daryl grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Hold up. We need to do this gently." Daryl looked Rick in the eyes intensely.

Rick sighed and nodded in agreement.

"Let's go."

Daryl let go of Rick's arm and followed him into the room.

Carol sat next to Kate on the bench when the two of them walked in. Kate didn't look up, but Daryl could see the tear stains on her cheeks and sighed. Rick nodded at Carol who stood up beside Kate, still holding her hand. Carol slipped her hand from hers and walked toward the two of them.

"I don't know what's wrong. She just came in and started crying." Carol whispered.

The two men nodded.

"Thanks, Carol." Daryl said as she turned to leave them alone.

Rick stood, looking at the bent head of the girl they'd all come to know over the past few days. He liked her. She was a sweet girl who'd been through a lot, but they'd all been through a lot and needed some answers.

Daryl walked over to her and squatted down in front of her. He reached out with one finger and gently lifted her chin to look at him.

"Hey." He smiled reassuringly at her, "We just want to help."

Taking both of her hands in his, he squeezed them gently. She took a deep breath and nodded, though tears clouded her vision before dropping onto her lap. Daryl reached out to wipe them away and smiled reassuringly at her.

Rick approached and pulled up a chair.

"I'm real sorry bout this, but I need ta ask you a few questions." Rick stated as gently as he could.

Daryl squeezed her hand to encourage her and let her know he was there. She raised her head to look at Rick.

"Do you know somethin' bout this?" He asked quietly.

Kate took a deep breath and let the air out slowly before answering.

"I don't know anything about Glenn and Maggie." She started, pausing only to take another deep breath, "but if they're being held by the Governor…"

She stopped, as tears welled up in her eyes, causing her throat to close for a second.

"The Governor?" Daryl prodded tenderly.

"He's…"Her eyes met Daryl's and for the first time, she felt ashamed of who she was. She couldn't answer him, so terrified that he would be disgusted with her.

"He's?" Daryl prompted, seeing the look of fear in her eyes.

"He's a bad man." She whispered, not wanting to voice her real relationship with him.

"Whad'ya mean, bad?" Rick urged, still managing to maintain a delicate tone.

"He's...crazy." She wrapped her arms around herself in a protective gesture before continuing, "His wife was killed. His youngest daughter was t…turned into a walker, but he keeps her."

She gasped, catching a sob in her throat.

"He keeps her in a closet…he brushes her hair…he sings to her…." She shuddered at the memory.

Daryl's lip curled back in disgust.

"What else?" Rick continued pushing.

At this point, Kate was staring at the wall as if lost in another world.

"He…he's a murderer, and a liar. He hides the truth from his people to protect his power…like what happened with the soldiers."

"What happened with the soldiers, Katelyn?" Daryl asked, though he was disturbed at seeing her blank expression and the glazed look in her eyes. She had been through alot and was barely starting to come out of her shell. He was worried that she would crawl back into her shell and never come out.

"He lured them into thinking he was their friend, but it was an ambush. He murdered all of them because he was afraid they were more powerful." She kept talking, now sounding almost robotic in her tone.

"And the heads...," She babbled now, almost incoherently making Daryl worry even more about her sanity, but Rick kept prodding.

"What heads?" Rick asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"He cuts off their heads...the people he murders...and he keeps them in jars so he can look at them whenever he wants to." She prattled, devoid of expression now.

"Fuck!" Daryl swore violently.

"And he'd make people fight them...the walkers...like gladiators...and his men would capture them for sport...and the women...the pretty ones..." She was competely blank, and Daryl had had enough.

"Enough!" Daryl spat out, grabbing her shoulders to shake her out of it. When his fingertips made contact with her, she jumped, looking back at him with a lost expression on her face.

"How do you know all of this?" Daryl whispered, causing her to look down again in shame.

"I…I lived there." She answered, giving him only part of the truth.

Daryl let out a deep sigh, turning his head around to look at Rick.

Rick wiped his mouth in a nervous gesture, before rubbing the back of his neck to relieve some tension. He was watching Kate as if assessing her, and blew out a long breathe, realizing that she was still very fragile. The small part of the protective officer that remained in him, surfaced, and took hold.

"All right." Rick spoke gently now, moving closer to Kate, "We're gonna need more information from you later, but I want you to rest for now, okay?"

Rick could see that she was fraying at the edges and knew that pushing her wasn't going to get more answers. Nodding at Daryl, he turned and left the room, leaving Daryl sitting there with Kate.

After a moment of silence, Kate looked up at Daryl, her face a mask of agony.

"I'm sorry." She burst out before her face crumpled and her hands flew up to cover her eyes.

"Hey…shhh…you got nothing ta be sorry bout." Daryl said as he pulled her onto his lap.

Wrapping his arms around her, he gently pushed her head down onto his shoulder and let her cry.

"You didn't do anything wrong." He whispered into her hair, rubbing her back as he held her tightly.

"Its not yur fault." He continued to croon, but this only made her cry harder.

She had lied to them. The people who had cared for her and treated her with utter kindness.

_I am my father's daughter_, she thought to herself before closing her eyes to rest.


	9. Chapter 9

Katelyn lay staring at the ceiling, running through the events of the last week, and thinking to herself that she deserved what had happened to her. She had betrayed her father…lied to her friends. Maybe she was just like her father.

Her birthday had been yesterday. She had turned 19, but she felt ancient all of a sudden. It didn't really matter anymore. The world was falling apart around her, and something as silly as a birthday didn't matter at this point. Still, she couldn't help but feel the loss of her normal life before the dead rose up.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't hear Carol enter.

"They're not back yet." Carol said, worried that something had happened to them.

"Back?" She asked, sitting up and swinging her legs over the edge of the bed.

"They went to that town to scout it out." Carol said with a hint of questioning in her voice. She didn't realize that Kate didn't know.

"What!?" Kate jumped to her feet, immediately regretting that decision as a sharp pain shot through her side.

Grabbing her ribs, she cringed, reaching out with her other hand to steady herself.

"Careful!" Carol yelled, coming to her side to help.

"I'm okay." Kate said, sitting gingerly down in a chair.

"I thought you knew." Carol said.

"No." Kate was chewing on her bottom lip now with worry. She hadn't given them all the information they needed and she was worried. They were outgunned and outnumbered and her father was a sick bastard.

"Oh god." She groaned, imagining the worst.

Standing up, she began frantically pacing the room, the back of her hand pressed against her mouth as she thought through her options.

"They'll be okay." Carol tried to soothe her, but Kate wasn't listening. She was making plans in her mind.

Stopping, she turned and looked at Carol.

"Where are the extra guns?" She asked pointedly, startling Carol who shook her head, no.

Carol stood silently.

"Where are the guns, Carol?" A fierceness coming into her voice that she hadn't known was there anymore.

Carol's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"You c..can't." Carol stuttered, not knowing what to do.

"The guns, Carol. Where..are..they?" Kate looked her dead in the eyes, an intensity in her gaze that Carol had never seen on her, but had seen plenty of times on other members of the group.

It was the look of a survivor.

Carol nodded, pointing her finger toward the locked cabinet at the back. Katelyn held out her hand, palm upward, while she waited for Carol to fumble in her pocket for the key. Feeling the cool metal touch her palm, she turned and marched over to the cabinet.

"You're still injured, Kate." Carol tried to reason with her as she watched Kate pull out a shotgun and a box of shells, two pistols with extra clips, and an automatic rifle. Loading up a vest with the extra rounds, she slipped it over her head before grabbing a knife and an axe.

Carol stood with mouth agape, watching the soft-spoken, sweet-natured girl arm herself like Rambo.

"Kate!" Carol finally broke the silence by shouting.

Kate had just slid the axe into her belt when Carol yelled. Spinning around, she looked at Carol, not knowing what to say to her. She was angry and scared…terrified was more like it. She knew what they were facing. No one else did.

"I can't let them die." She spoke softly to Carol, afraid to look her in the eyes.

Carol stepped forward and put her hand on Katelyn's arm.

"You don't understand what he's capable of." She continued.

Tears sprang into Carol's eyes as she choked on a cry of sorrow. Kate's face flew up to look, causing her eyes to fill with tears too.

Throwing her arms around Carol, she hugged her new friend, before pushing away from her.

"Carol, there's more to this story…" She explained, "…I…the Governor…"

She couldn't finish. She needed to get to them before her father killed them. She knew that she might be able to intervene and at least give them a hostage if it came down to it.

"It doesn't matter," Kate stated, "the point is that I need to get there in case they need help."

Carol shook her head in disbelief. This was not the same timid girl that had been rescued by Daryl.

"Here. Take these," Carol stated, digging through the bag for the keys to one of the busses they had found in the back garage on the prison compound.

Handing Kate the keys, she stepped back to smile at her.

"I'll bring them home." Was all Kate said before turning to leave.

Neither one of them noticed the lurking figure of a man, watching them from the landing above.

###################################################################################

Kate drove for fifteen minutes before pulling the bus over to the side of the road and turning off the engine. For a moment, she sat there, getting up the courage to go wading through the woods again. She wasn't afraid of the walkers so much, but the people she might come across.

She had been running for weeks before Daryl found her, trying to use the skills her father had taught her, to survive in the wilderness alone. She had been doing pretty well…had even managed to eat a possum. Of course, she did that out of pure desperation and swore she would never again eat that nasty creature. She had been down at the creek washing the gore and grime off of herself when "Gerold" attacked her. She heard footsteps quietly approaching and turned around swiftly, diving for the knife that lay but a few feet away from her. Unfortunately, he was already on her, and had grabbed her by her hair. She remembered his laugh, and his nasty breath when he had wrestled her down to the ground.

Shivering with the memory, Katelyn, refused to let those thoughts go any further. This wasn't the time to melt down. They needed her strong.

Shaking her head, she allowed herself to get angry, and shoved herself out of her seat. It would be dark soon, and she wanted to get close to the compound before then.

She judged that she was about 20 minutes of walking away from Woodbury. She could hear the groaning of walkers not too far away, so she quickly dashed into the woods, avoiding an altercation with them. Picking her way along slowly, she moved from tree to tree, cautious of any scouts or walkers that might come upon her. She managed to evade a few stray walkers who she came upon, and only had to kill one, before coming to the familiar outer edge of the town walls.

Nightfall had begun to fall and she didn't see anything of Daryl and the others. She jumped when she heard shouting from inside and heard a great deal of gunfire. Smoke was rising from within the walls, filling the ground with cover. She could see the men on the ramparts facing inward, not even paying attention to the outside.

Searching the area for a way to slip inside, she almost smiled when she saw that a hole just large enough for her to climb through. Slipping through the treeline, she darted for the bottom of the wall. Hugging it, she scooted its length until she came to the small space. Slipping her shoulders in, she grasped the outer edge of the tire-formed tube and pulled herself through. Twisting so that she was facing down now, she placed her hands on the ground and allowed herself to fall forward into a summersault.

Wincing at the tight pinching of her ribs, she took a moment to catch her breath. She heard them shouting and just as she was about to sprint across to another hiding spot, she saw Oscar go down and held back a cry of distress. Closing her eyes for a second, she took a deep breath. When she opened them, she heard Rick yelling for Daryl. She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and watched as Rick, Maggie, and Glenn dashed by overhead. She didn't get a good look, but she was pretty sure she saw Glenn's mangled face, knowing exactly who was responsible for that.

Her anger boiled beneath the surface as she waited for Daryl, but he never came. She heard Rick calling for him again, but this time, there was no answer, just a loud spray of automatic weapon fire.

Panic began to set in.

Judging the distance to her next hiding spot, she bolted straight for it. She could tell that the men were all engaged in the firefight and weren't even looking in her direction. Waiting for gunfire to erupt again, she shot the lock off of the storage shed and slipped inside. From there, she had a great view of the exchange. She could see Rick up on top of the rampart shooting at the group of men below, and saw Daryl starting to climb. Her heart skidded to a stop though, when she saw one of the men grab him, throwing him to the ground.

Bursting out of the shed, Kate started firing at the men on the ground. Surprised by the side attack, the men diverted their attention to her and began shooting. Confused, Rick glanced down, seeing her standing there and for a second, was stunned.

"Katelyn!" Rick shouted above the racket, "Get out of there!"

Katelyn started running for the rampart, firing at the other men so they had to duck behind cover. Unfortunately, Daryl was still fighting the one who had grabbed him. Flipping onto his stomach so he could push himself to his feet, Daryl tried to stand but the took a steel toed boot to the ribs, flattening him to the ground. He began to roll but the man standing over him grabbed hold of his rifle and cracked the butt over Daryl's head, knocking him out cold.

"No!" She cried out, covering her mouth hastily.

She felt her arm get grabbed and turned quickly to see Rick's furious face in front of her. Shoving her toward the edge of the wall, Rick pointed.

"Get out of here!" he shouted angrily.

"I'm not leaving Daryl!" She shouted back, tears running down her face.

"I'll get him, you get Maggie and Glenn to safety!" He answered, before turning back toward the men and firing.

She paused for a moment, feeling utterly torn. She knew Rick was loyal to Daryl and wouldn't leave him behind. Deciding, she climbed down the wall and ran off into the woods with the others.

She didn't see the two men grab Daryl by the arms and drag him away.

Moments later, a saddened Rick joined them.

Katelyn searched around him, frantically looking for Daryl.

"Where is he?" She demanded, terror seizing hold of her once again.

Rick looked down at the ground in defeat.

"WHERE IS HE!?" she screamed furiously now, attempting to bolt and go back for him.

Rick grabbed her before she ever got a chance to move.

"YOU CAN'T LEAVE HIM!" Katelyn was hysterical now, screaming and fighting to free herself. Rick held onto her for dear life attempting to calm her down.

"Listen to me!" He grabbed her face between his hands and forced her head to look him in the eye.

"I will get him back." He stated fiercely, tears welling up in his eyes, "I will get him back."

His voice clogged with emotion, Rick let the tears fall from his eyes. He loved Daryl like a brother and had come to more than rely on him. He was family now, and Daryl had sacrificed himself to save the rest of them.

Still holding onto her face, he repeated, "I will get him back," but Kate was now clinging to Rick desperately, shaking her head "no" in disbelief.

Choking on her tears, she couldn't even talk, as Rick put his arm around her to guide her away from Woodbury.


	10. Chapter 10

Kate paced back and forth while Glenn recounted what happened.

"They wanted to know where we were, how many of us…and of course, he wanted to know about Daryl." He said while Hershel stitched up his side.

Accidentally stabbing too deep with the needle, Glenn sucked in a quick breath through his teeth, prompting Hershel to say, "Sorry."

"Its okay. Hurts a hell of a lot less than getting the shit kicked out of me." He muttered bitterly.

Glenn glanced over at Maggie who sat quietly in the corner watching. He was worried about her. She just seemed…off, and he sighed, knowing that he couldn't really do anything to help. The damage had been done already. They would have time to talk later.

Kate must have noticed as well, because she glanced over at Maggie who sat still as a statue, withdrawn into herself. She knew that look. Knew it all too well. Kate smiled sadly, catching Glenn's eye with a look of sorrow. Glenn knew that of all of them, Kate understood what Maggie was going through.

"We gotta organize a rescue." Rick stated, breaking the silence, snapping Kate back to attention.

"How? We're down two now, and Glenn and Kate are injured." Hershel reminded him.

Pounding his fists on the table, Rick let out his anger with a growl, "I don't know!," before quieting and taking a deep breath.

"I don't know." He repeated softly.

But Kate did.

She knew what they could do.

"You can trade me." She stated quietly, not sure that anyone heard her.

"What?" Rick spun around to look at her, wondering if he heard her correctly.

"You can trade me for Daryl." She sounded more sure this time.

"Why would the Governor trade him for you?" He whispered intensely, getting mere inches from her face.

She didn't know a good way to say this, so she opted for blunt.

"I'm his daughter." She said, raising her eyes to meet Rick's penetrating gaze.

Rick recoiled as if he'd been slapped, a look of disbelief falling over his features.

"What!?" He demanded, grabbing her arm roughly.

Hershel moved to put a calming hand on Rick's shoulder when he saw the look of fear in Kate's eyes.

"Rick." Hershel warned.

"You're what!?" Rick insisted, as if he hadn't heard her correctly.

"His daughter." She said softly, ashamed of any connection that she had to the man who had done this to Glenn and Maggie.

Rick let out a wail, pulling away from her in disgust.

Katelyn cringed, folding in on herself and letting her head drop in shame.

"You lied to us!" Rick accused, pointing his finger at her, all the while staying away from her like she was poison, "We took you in, and you lied to us!"

"I…I…," she tried to explain, but sobs took hold of her, "I didn't know how to tell you. I knew you'd hate me."

Carol rushed forward to grab Kate by the shoulders to offer support.

"It's not her fault Rick!" Carol defended compassionately.

"Not her fault?" Rick hissed, fury contorting his features.

"She didn't choose him as a father." Carol answered as she helped Katelyn sit down in a chair after feeling the trembling that went through her whole body.

"Why didn't you tell us when they were taken!?" He demanded, coming closer to her.

Katelyn glanced up at him through watery eyes and shrank back at the look of hate in his eyes.

"I'm telling you now...Trade me." She uttered through quaking lips.

"Trade you," Rick repeated mockingly, turning away from her to think.

"Shit!" Rick swore loudly, pounding the table again, before placing his palms flat and leaning on it.

Katelyn stood, touching Carol's hand to let her know that she was okay. She walked over to Rick and took his hand in hers.

"Let me do this. It's the least I can do." She begged him, raising his hand to her cheek in a gesture of trust.

Rick breathed out heavily before turning to look at her. He saw instantly, the pain she felt. It was there in her eyes, and he knew that she would never have willingly hurt them.

His anger slipped away almost immediately, and he pulled her close to him, wrapping her in his arms as they both cried.

"I can't lose another one of my family." He whispered in her ear.

"I know." She replied, her voice catching on her tears, "I'll get him back."

For a moment, the room was silent, as they held onto each other. Two lost souls in a sea of mourning. She understood everything. He had lost his wife and his best friend. He had watched friends who had become like family die, one right after another, and now he had a baby, and he was scared to death. The amount of pressure that rested on his shoulders was immense. Without him, this group would die. Daryl was the only other person he could rely on to see them all safely through, and he had just lost him too.

Pulling away to look in her eyes, he couldn't speak, he just nodded frantically in agreement as his hand covered his mouth.

Kate took a deep breath, swallowing past the lump in her throat, before wiping the tears from her face.

"All right. How are we going to do this?" She asked calmly.

"Grab one of those bows. We're gonna shoot a message at the gate letting them know we have one of his." Rick said, trying to reassure himself that this was the right thing to do. So many things weren't right anymore. They had become the lesser of two evils, and his morality was slowly being eroded.

Grabbing a piece of paper from one of the trash cans, he smoothed it out, writing a letter to the Governor.

_Governor,_

_ We want our man back. We're willing to trade one of yours for him. _

_ -R_

"Here, let's get a lock of your hair and put it inside this envelope." He shoved the note inside and took out his knife.

Katelyn held out a thick strand of hair, she watched as Rick severed a piece and dropped it into the envelope.

Katelyn slid her hand over Rick's and squeezed, reassuring him that it was going to be okay.

Rick nodded, but couldn't look her in the eye.

"All right. Glenn, you stay here and rest. Maggie, I'm gonna need you." Rick stated, turning to look at them.

"Hell no! I ain't staying behind." Glenn barked ferociously, surprising Rick.

"You gonna be okay?" Rick asked, nodding toward his injuries.

"Okay enough." Glenn answered vehemently.

"All right then." Rick nodded, grabbing his gun to shove in his belt, "Let's grab our gear and get going."

############################################################################

Daryl hung from the rope they had tossed over the beam inside the storage shed. His feet were only an inch or so off the ground, but he couldn't reach it. Spitting the blood from his mouth, Daryl strained against his bonds, trying to free himself. His arms felt like they were going to pull out of their sockets and his kidneys hurt from where they had punched him. He knew the beating he'd received so far was just an opener. He was preparing for the real beat down mentally, dredging up all the piss and vinegar he could muster.

He heard the door open and tensed up in anticipation.

"I've heard a lot about you, Daryl." The slow drawl of a southern gentlemen's voice greeted him and Daryl's eyes narrowed.

_A snake in sheep's clothing¸_ he thought to himself.

The tall man moved across the room toward Daryl, before coming to stand before him. Daryl immediately saw the bandage over his eye. It looked like a recent wound, making him wonder if he'd sustained it during the fight.

_Good_, he thought to himself, _Sonofabitch deserved it._

"How d'you know my name?" Daryl bit out through clenched teeth.

"Oh, I know quite a bit." He said silkily, moving around to his front, looking Daryl up and down as if assessing him.

Daryl glared.

"Well, I'm not disappointed. You're one tough cookie." He stated, whistling at Daryl's impressive durability.

"You're definitely Merle's brother." He finished, looking up to see Daryl's reaction to his statement.

"You know my brother?" Daryl questioned, confused as to how this prick would know Merle.

"I do." The Governor answered nonchalantly.

"Where is he?," Daryl demanded.

"He's here." The Governor gestured to the surrounding area, "You'll see him soon…pity though..."

"Get to the point, asshole!" Daryl bit out, irritated at this guy's game playing.

The Governor chuckled in amusement. This one was feisty. He wished he'd found him instead of Merle.

He was about to say something to the like when Frank peeked through the door to interrupt him.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but we need you for a second." Frank didn't want to interrupt him but he knew this was important.

The Governor took a deep breath and turned to walk over to Frank.

Daryl watched the exchange with interest, his eyes glaring daggers into the guy's back. He saw the "lackey" say something quietly to which the other prick pulled back in surprise. He looked pissed off which made Daryl smile a little.

The Governor was furious. Those arrogant assholes had left a note stuck to his front gate demanding an exchange of prisoners. Somehow, they had managed to get ahold of his pain-in-the-ass daughter and they wanted to exchange her. The Governor stroked his face as he thought through this.

Over the weeks that Katelyn had been missing, his anger had decreased, causing him to worry. He sent out patrols to look for signs of her for weeks, but they had found nothing. A part of him had been impressed with her resourcefulness, but as the weeks went on, a gnawing feeling of desperation had filled him. After all, she was his daughter.

Now, the prison group had his daughter. God knows what they'd done to her. They were willing to trade her for Merle's brother, but he had other plans for him. That's all right. He could use the exchange as a trap and kill all of them in one fell swoop.

Leaving the room, he ordered Frank to ready Daryl for a prisoner exchange, leaving Daryl frowning as he speculated on who Rick had managed to take hostage.


	11. Chapter 11

Katelyn stood on the road. The group was hiding in the woods, rifles trained on the exchange point. Michonne was most effective in a melee fight, so she was the one holding Kate, whose hands were tied behind her. Rick took the high point, scoping out the area with binoculars to make sure the Governor didn't try anything funny.

Whistling down at Michonne, she knew she needed to get ready because they were coming. Glenn and Beth hid on the back side of a boulder stand that acted as an outcropping on high ground. They watched as two men tried to sneak past them. They knew the Governor would attempt an ambush, so they waited until they passed, before quietly falling in behind and closing the gap.

Carl and Maggie were hiding on the other side, watching as a group of four men snuck by them. Carl moved quietly to flank them, as Maggie snuck around to the front. They had been expecting this, so they planned exactly how they'd catch them in a crossfire and let these idiots walk right into it.

Michonne could hear the jeep approaching before she could see it. Tensing up, she almost hoped that asshole, the Governor was coming. She really wanted to smile in his arrogant face.

She wasn't disappointed, and couldn't help but grin when she saw his reaction to her presence there.

"Michonne." Stepping out of the Jeep, the Governor grimaced through tight jaw, "I should have known it'd be you."

Michonne smirked wickedly at him, laying her katana against Kate's neck in a threatening gesture.

Katelyn saw the bandage on her father's eye for the first time and gasped, giving the Governor the impression that she was worried about him. She saw his face fall in concern for her for a moment, and she felt bad.

Then she saw them shove Daryl out of the Jeep. He had a bag over his head so he couldn't see and it was all she could do to not cry out to him, but she couldn't. His life depended on her.

Pushing Daryl forward, he stumbled up to where the Governor stood.

"How're we doing this?" The Governor called out.

"You send him over to me and then I'll let her go." Michonne stated, her unemotional style unnerving to the Governor.

Daryl heard the exchange, trying to figure out who they were exchanging him for, but the minute he heard Michonne refer to their hostage as a "her", a sinking feeling began in his stomach. Something wasn't right.

Michonne began moving Katelyn forward as the Governor moved Daryl closer, until they were standing within feet of each other. Michonne looked the Governor up and down with disgust, before shoving Katelyn forward toward him. Michonne reached out to take hold of Daryl, moving him behind her, and handing him a knife.

The Governor was the first to move. Michonne had been ready for it though and spun out of the way and the Governor lunged for her. Daryl had grasped the knife and was attempting to cut through his bonds, bending over to shake the bag off of his head. Katelyn was about to run when she felt someone grab her from behind, dragging her back to the Jeep.

Gunfire erupted as all hell broke loose.

Maggie and Carl dropped 3 of the 4 immediately, Glenn and Beth managed to kill the other 2, and Rick shot 2 of the men the Governor had brought in the Jeep. The only one left had ahold of Katelyn and Rick was too afraid to shoot for fear of hitting her.

Shoved face first into the Jeep, she struggled to make herself upright, but it was difficult with her hands tied behind her back. Frank shoved her head back down beneath the dashboard, and turned the wheel sharply, gunning the throttle to get the hell out of there. The Governor was locked in hand to hand combat with Michonne.

Circling each other, eyes glaring, sizing up the other, they both wanted the other to die equally. A death match made in heaven.

"You shoulda just left and never looked back." The Governor said smoothly, gaining back some of his charm.

"I shoulda killed ya when I first saw ya. Save everyone a lot of trouble." She spat back at him, smirking as her gaze fell on his damaged eye.

"Sorry bout your eye." She mocked, causing the Governor to come unhinged.

He lunged, straight for her, machete raised in the air to slash at her face, but Michonne was quicker and spun out of the way.

"Gonna have ta do better than that, Gov." She chuckled.

More gunfire sounded off, dropping the last the ambushers, leaving Frank as the Governor's only protection.

She heard the gunning of the Jeep before she looked up, but this time, she wasn't quick enough. The front of the Jeep slammed into her, knocking her back a few feet, stunning her. The Governor was about to lunge, when he heard Frank shouting.

"Get in! Quick!" Frank yelled at the Governor as he swung the passenger side door open for him.

Daryl finally managed to get the ropes off of his and rolled to his feet, quickly assessing the situation. He saw Rick scrambling down the embankment toward them, Michonne was slowly getting up, holding herself across the middle, and Glenn slowly approached the area with his rifle raised, ready to shoot. He heard the peeling tires as the Jeep reversed quickly, and watched as the Governor jumped into the front seat, raising his gun to shoot at them.

Diving for cover, he raised his head just in time to see the prisoner they had exchanged him for.

Everything in Daryl went cold as terror seized him.

"Nooooo!" Daryl started screaming, beginning to race after the Jeep.

Kate's gaze flew toward the sound of Daryl's voice, her eyes locking momentarily with his. She saw the horror on his face and her heart broke into pieces. Smiling sadly, she watched as Rick tackled Daryl before he could get too far, rolling him to the ground in order to keep him from getting himself killed following her.

"Nooooo!" Daryl screamed again, frantically fighting to get Rick off of him so he could get to Katelyn.

"Daryl!" Rick shouted, trying to get his attention.

Glenn came jogging into the clearing.

"We gotta go man. They're gonna have reinforcements." Glenn, trying to be the voice of reason, cringed when he heard the gut-wrenching cries coming from Daryl.

"GET OFF ME! KATE!" Daryl was straining, trying to throw Rick off of him, but Michonne stepped in to grab one of his arms to help hold him.

"Daryl! Stop!" Rick yelled, grabbing his head to he had to pay attention.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" Daryl screamed, looking into Rick's eyes.

"Daryl. She's his daughter. She volunteered to be our hostage." Rick tried to speak soothingly, but he saw Daryl's face crumple in disbelief.

"He's not gonna hurt her. She's okay." Rick continued to talk to the desperately fighting Daryl who had finally calmed down enough that he was listening.

Breathing hard, Daryl was too stunned to think rationally.

"No!" Daryl cried out in denial.

"Daryl! Its okay. She's okay." Rick sat back, giving Daryl room to breathe, but he didn't move. Instead, he just lay there in the dirt staring at Rick in shock.

Rick stood up, offering Daryl a hand, but Daryl just lay there shaking his head.

"Come on, buddy. We gotta go." Rick motioned to the car.

"We gotta go or this will have been for nothing." Rick said softly.

Daryl staggered to his feet, angrily tugging his shirt straight, glaring at all of them.

"Come on." Rick motioned for the car, but Daryl was backing away from them.

Maggie knew he was going to bolt and stepped behind him.

"Daryl, don't do this." She said, putting her hand on his arm.

"Carol's scared to death right now. She needs to know you're okay. We can make a plan to get Kate, but for now, she's safe." Maggie tried reasoning with him, hitting the key points that she knew might sway his irrational response.

"Fuck you!" Daryl spat, stumbling until he bumped into the car.

"FUCK ALL YOU!" He screamed, pointing at them hatefully before landing on Rick, "That's twice!"

They all knew he was referring to when Rick left Merle behind, forcing him to cut off his hand in order to escape.

Rick sighed sorrowfully.

"I deserve that, but right now, there are people countin on you." He spoke, trying to reason with Daryl, "You can hate me all you want. I deserve it, but Carol doesn't."

Daryl's face crumpled with pain and he sagged against the car. His body hurt all over, his heart was broken, and he was so angry that words couldn't express it. Maggie saw him slouch and knew that he had surrendered enough to approach him softly. Slipping her shoulder under his arm, she helped him get into the car. As she lowered him onto the seat, he just kept sliding until he was lying down on the seat, as if all the fight had left him.

Maggie looked back at Glenn with a worried expression. Glenn nodded at her. Climbing in beside him, she lifted his head, putting it in her lap so she could sit down as Glenn hopped in the front seat and the others jumped in their car.

Daryl watched the dust fly up into the air as they drove away.


	12. Chapter 12

Daryl paced like a caged panther while the others quietly ate. Every once in a while, they'd hear a growl from him, and look, but they were all too afraid to make eye contact. They'd seen him this angry before, just not for this long.

"You guys gonna sit there feeding your faces!?" Daryl yelled, kicking a chair across the room.

Carol stopped eating, putting her fork down, and stood up to go to him. Hershel laid his hand on her arm, shaking his head in warning. Carol understood. Right now, Daryl needed to rant, and he was unpredictable when he was like this. They didn't want her getting hurt.

"FUCK!" He shouted when no one said anything.

Everyone looked at Rick who sighed deeply, moving his plate away from him. Standing up, he made his way over to Daryl and held up his hands in a peaceful gesture of surrender.

"Listen. We're just recuperating until we have a plan. We're not just gonna leave her there." Rick assured him quietly.

"She shouldn't a been there in the first place!" He lunged at Rick, screaming in his face furiously.

Rick didn't flinch.

Carol and Maggie glanced at each other as it became very clear to them that Daryl just wasn't going to be okay until they had her back.

"Daryl. He knows where we are. We gotta move. Then we can go after her." Rick tried reasoning with him, but Daryl wasn't hearing anything of it. He was about to yell at Rick again when he heard the baby start gurgling, making him pause.

Gritting his teeth, he turned away from Rick and stomped over to the bag with all of the baby stuff in it. Rummaging around, he found the canister of formula and pulled it out, throwing it at Rick.

"Feed your baby." Daryl snapped, before walking out of the room angrily.

Carol tried to take his hand, but he yanked it away from her and kept walking. He was too angry right now and needed to go calm down.

The room was silent after Daryl left, Maggie rushing over to Rick to take the canister from him. He had enough to worry about right now, so she went over to the boiled water and made a bottle for little Judith.

Taking her from Hershel, Maggie snuggled her up against her and started feeding her.

"I didn't think he'd be this upset." Rick said, letting out a pent up breath.

"Oh, Rick. Weren't you watching?" Carol said kindly.

"I guess not." Rick answered honestly.

"He's been attached to her since he brought her back. You ever seen him like that with anyone else?" She asked, trying to prompt him to understand.

"Just the baby." Rick stated, reviewing in his head the information. It was the first time that he looked at Daryl as something other than an ass-kicking red-neck. He had been the one that stepped up when Rick couldn't. Rick had been so distracted, however, that he didn't see who Daryl Dixon had become.

"Shit." Rick swore, realizing that Daryl wasn't the man they had first picked up outside of Atlanta.

"You think he's in love with her?" Rick asked Carol who patted him on the back.

"I do." and "Duh" came flying out of Carol and Maggie's mouths, sending them into a fit of giggles.

Even Glenn was smirking, leaving Rick feeling like an ass.

"Guess I been blind…" Rick said quietly, "…to a lot of things."

Hershel stood, hobbling over to Rick to pat him on the back.

"It'll be okay." Hershel assured him.

"I gotta figure out a way to do right by him." Rick said, his mind starting to think through the possibilities.

"We'll all figure it out." Carol said, looking at everyone.

Everyone nodded.

###############################################################################

Katelyn was trembling with fear as she waited in the room for her father. She could gather from the men's talking that things had not gone well lately, and her father blamed Daryl and the others. She was going to have to play this smart if she wanted to survive.

She had lied to Rick when she said that the Governor wouldn't hurt her. She knew how sick he was and worried that he was too furious with her to reason with. As scared as she was, she was relieved that Daryl was safe.

The door opened slowly. Katelyn turned around to see her father standing in the doorway. She was worried she wouldn't be able to pull this off, but the minute she saw him, she burst into tears.

The Governor had been prepared to punish her, but when he saw her, he could see the old bruises, and thought maybe the world had done it for her.

"Sweetheart." He said quietly, reaching his arms out toward her. It didn't take any urging. She walked straight into his arms and cried her heart out.

He was after all, still her daddy, and she needed him to think that she was home and had learned her lesson. He smoothed her hair down, whispering into her hair to comfort her. It only took a moment, however, before Katelyn felt a chill crawl up her spine.

Something was different.

He used to at least pretend that he was normal, hiding all the sick and twisted stuff from her, but somehow, he seemed different. Pulling back from him, she wiped her eyes, and looked up at him.

"Dad." She said quietly, "I'm so sorry."

He smiled down at her, brushing her curls away from her face, before speaking.

"I was worried about you." He said, guiding her over to the chair in her room.

"I shouldn't have run off like that. I was so…confused." She said.

The Governor smiled gently down at her, lifting her casted arm to get a better look.

"Who did this?" He asked lightly, concern dripping from his voice.

"The man back at the prison. He was a doctor. He put the cast on it." She answered honestly.

"No, who did this?" More forcefully now, anger creeping into his voice.

"They're dead now." She told him, searching his face for a sign of what was bothering her about him.

Nodding, he walked around the chair, stopping at her side to lift her face with his fingers. He examined the bruises on her neck and face, noting the fingerprint shapes left behind. There was a coldness in his eyes as he studied her, and she shivered in response.

"Cold?" he asked eerily.

She shook her head, trying to assess what was going on.

"Take your clothes off." He said so quietly, she thought she misheard him.

"W…What?" She babbled, hoping that she hadn't heard him right.

"Take off your clothes." He repeated, relishing the discomfort she obviously felt.

"No." She answered quietly, standing up from her chair so she'd be able to bolt.

"Take off your clothes. I want to make sure you're not injured." He said congenially, though the icy coldness hadn't left his tone.

She shook her head, backing away from him, truly terrified of where this was going. Her mind started to reel, flashing back memories of Gerold and the incident in the woods. Her face had gone pale as the Governor began stalking her across the room.

"No." She said over and over again, her legs shaking so badly that she couldn't support herself. She stopped when she felt her back press against the wall. Having nowhere to go, she became desperate, frantically searching the room for a way out.

She was trapped, and he knew it. He saw her wild eyes, searching the room, and he was enraged. She was trying to run from him again.

"Bitch." He said menacingly, causing her head to snap back to look at him, terrified to take her eyes off of him.

Reaching his hand out, lightning fast, he grabbed hold of her shirt and ripped it violently from her. It didn't come all the way with the first tug, so he grabbed it again, this time fighting her hands which were desperately grasping at the shreds of fabric.

Angry that she was fighting him, he pulled back his hand and slapped her incredibly hard, knocking her to the ground. Grabbing the last remnants of her shirt, he tore them from her back, leaving her sobbing on the floor.

Standing over her, he looked down and quietly spoke again.

"Now your pants." He ordered in his deceptively calm voice.

She looked up at him in horror, thinking that he meant to hurt her the same way that other man hurt her. Tears started welling in her eyes and her lip started trembling.

"Please don't do this, daddy." She begged, truly terrified now.

"Your pants, darlin'." He repeated, looking at her with hooded eyes filled with hatred.

Whoever this man was, he wasn't her father any more. That man had died.

Shaking her head no, Katelyn tried to move away from him, crawling on her hands and knees, but she didn't get very far. He grabbed the back of her pants, dragging her out from under the table and stepped on her back. She heard him fumbling with something for a moment before she realized what he was doing. She felt the tugging on her belt and felt the cold steel of his knife as he sliced through the leather.

He was cutting off her pants.

All of the memories of what Gerold did to her came flooding back and she began to scream, kicking and clawing at her father with all the ferocity she could muster.

The Governor wasn't prepared for the sheer violence with which she fought. He knew he would scare her, but he wasn't expecting sheer panic to take hold, making him wonder what exactly had happened to her.

Grabbing her flailing arms, he trapped them beneath his legs before flipping her on her back to pin her. It only took one look at her eyes to know that she wasn't in her right mind anymore, so he slapped her in the face to snap her out of it.

Shrieking like a dying animal, she let out a guttural cry of fear, and then went completely still. He searched her face once more and saw that her eyes had gone blank, and she was staring at the wall. Her breathing was short and fast, like panting, and she was deathly pale.

Letting her go, he stood up and called for the guards to go fetch the doctor. He wanted to know the extent of her injuries.

Looking one last time at her crumpled form, he turned and left the room.


	13. Chapter 13

Carl returned with strangers. Carl was always doing stuff he shouldn't do. Rick sized up the other survivors as they sat in the locked off area. The big man's name was Tyreese, and his sister's name was Sasha. Tyreese seemed to be the calm head of the group and Rick could deal with that. He just didn't like outsiders so he stayed wary, having conversations through the gate.

"We're grateful for any help you're willing to give us. It's been bad. Real bad." Tyreese said, looking back over his shoulder at Ben and Allen who sat quietly on the floor.

"Yeah, it's been bad for all of us." Rick agreed, smiling mirthlessly.

Tyreese studied them through the bars. He could tell that it was a tightknit group but he could sense the tension. He didn't want to pry but he could tell that something was going on and he thought maybe he could help.

"Is something wrong?" Tyreese asked, quietly, so the other members of both groups could hear, "I mean…you're group seems…upset."

"Donchou worry about that." Rick snapped, starting to turn away.

"Hey. I'm sorry. I just thought…we could help." Tyreese grasped Rick's arm through the bars.

Rick turned a deadly eye back at Tyreese who slowly let go of him.

Tyreese backed away from the bars, sighing in resignation, as Rick walked back to Hershel and Glenn who sat at the table.

Sitting down at the table, Hershel leaned over to ask, "What did they want?"

"To help." Rick replied.

"We could use it." Hershel reminded him.

"We don't know anything about them." Rick snapped.

"I realize that, but right now, we're low in numbers and we gotta move." Hershel reasoned with him, "The worst thing we can do is push away potential allies. We're gonna have to stay for a few days to prepare and if we set out, we need more people."

Rick turned his head away, but Hershel grabbed his arm to get his attention.

"We're going to have to trust someone. Rick, we don't have a choice." Hershel stated emphatically.

Rick grimaced, not wanting to admit that Hershel was right, but he knew he was.

Looking over toward the other group, Rick stood up, pulling out his keys to unlock it. Swinging the door open, he nodded at Tyreese, motioning his arm for them to come in. Tyreese nodded back at Rick, understanding his meaning and looked up, saying a silent prayer of thanks.

He could still do that. Be grateful, and he could still believe in a higher power. Even if the world had gone to shit. This was one of those moments where gratitude overwhelmed everything else.

Walking slowly into the other room, he met Hershel halfway across the room, offering his hand. Hershel took it, smiling in welcome .

"Hershel." He said, introducing himself to the large man who responded in kind.

"Tyreese."

Glenn popped up and began introducing everyone in the group, Tyreese doing the same for his people. Tyreese's group looked relieved, and it was obvious to Hershel and the others that they had been through a lot as well. Daryl, however, was not convinced, nor was he in the mood for a social gathering.

"We started out as a group of about 15. We lost 7 in the first few months. After that, things started getting tricky. Everyone was stressed out. People got on each other's nerves. Two of them took off on their own. We're what's left of our original group." Tyreese began telling their story.

"Sounds familiar." Rick stated.

"Where you comin from?" Tyreese asked curiously.

"Atlanta. There was a big group of us, but same story." He said quietly, not offering any more of the story.

Tyreese looked over at Maggie, who held little Juditch, the question was obvious.

"How'd you guys manage that?" Tyreese asked respectfully, in awe at their ability to survive and manage to protect something so innocent.

Rick turned away, but Hershel filled in.

"She's Rick's." He stated calmly, his eyes following Rick intensely, letting Tyreese know not to push that subject.

"Like you said. We started out as a bigger group, but things happened." Hershel finished.

With that, Tyreese nodded.

#############################################################################

The Governor stood outside the room, waiting for Dr. Stevens to come out. He didn't have to wait long before she opened the door. Philip could see Katelyn lying on the table in a ball. She was dressed in a hospital gown now, and he could tell by the doctor's frown that she wasn't happy.

"Well?" The Governor asked.

"She's been tended to by somebody. The arm and the stitches are obvious, but she also had stitches where you can't see them, as well as 3 broken ribs." She reported.

"Are you saying that she was…," he didn't want to finish. Angry as he was at her, she was his property. No one touched her unless he said so.

"Yes. She was raped…and beaten." Dr. Stevens was not impressed with the Governor's response. This was his daughter for god's sake.

"And someone healed her?" He questioned, fury building within him as he realized that she hadn't been their prisoner at all. She had been their guest.

They had tricked her.

Dr. Stevens wasn't expecting the cry of outrage from the Governor. Startled, she staggered backward when he pushed through her and into the room. Storming over to Katelyn, who hadn't moved at all, he grabbed her by her hair and dragged her off the table.

Shrieking in terror, Dr. Stevens called for help, before rushing into the room to try to calm the Governor down.

"Stop!" She shouted at him as he started dragging the terrified girl across the room.

Struggling to keep her feet under her, it was all Katelyn could do to keep him from ripping her hair out. Frantically searching the room as she was hauled across it, she managed to grab ahold of a scalpel and swung it at her father.

Yelping loudly in agony, the Governor dropped her instantly, looking down at his hand in shock. Blood spurted out of his wrist where she cut him. Clamping his hand over the wound, he growled in rage.

"You bitch!" He shouted furiously. Stomping toward her with menace in his face.

At this point, Katelyn was standing in the center of the room, bloody scalpel in her hand, looking wild eyed and crazy. Andrea heard the shrieking and didn't know what was happening so she ran down the hallway and saw the insanity unfolding before her eyes.

Not knowing what was happening, Andrea grabbed the Governor's gun off of his hip and raised it toward the senseless patient that stood within the room. It was Dr. Stevens who intervened.

"Andrea. I've got this handled. Please take the Governor and have someone stitch him up." She requested calmly, trying to salvage this situation by saving the girl.

"I want that bitch restrained!" He shouted as Andrea began steering him out of the room.

"I'll sedate her." He called after him, causing Katelyn some alarm.

Once the Governor was out of the room she turned quickly to Kate.

"We only have a moment. I need you to trust me, okay?" She whispered, readying the restraints and pulling out a bottle and syringe.

Katelyn was confused and frightened, not knowing who to trust.

"I need you to pretend like I've sedated you. Hop on the table." She motioned, holding her hand out for the scalpel.

Katelyn hesitated for a moment, but remembered that Dr. Stevens had always been kind to her.

"Please. I'm begging you. He's lost it, Kate. I can't protect you unless you do as I ask." She told her frantically.

Katelyn handed her the scalpel, just as she heard the guards coming down the hall.

"I'm not going to tighten the straps. Once your father is convinced that you're out cold, you go out the window and get the hell out of here." She whispered as she put the straps on her wrists.

"Close your eyes." She hissed, tightening the last of the straps to a loose enough hole that she'd be able to slip her bonds, then turned around to take the cap off the syringe so it would look like she had given it to her already.

The guards walked through the door quickly, scanning the room for the danger, and saw the blood spray on the floor. Confused, Frank looked at Dr. Stevens who frowned, shaking her head in false irritation.

"She went crazy. Attacked the Governor with the scalpel." She kept fussing around Katelyn who she could see was shaking with fear.

"She's heavily sedated now." She went on to further explain, coming to stand in front of them.

Frank shook his head in disbelief.

"Is the Governor all right?" he asked.

"He's being stitched up right now." She responded. "I need to go check on him. Will you two stand guard outside the door?"

They both nodded, and she flipped off the light as she exited the room, leaving the two of them standing outside the door and Katelyn inside the room, alone.

Katelyn didn't waste any time. She grabbed the scalpel and some scrubs that Dr. Stevens had left out for her, sliding them on quickly before heading toward the window. Unlocking the window took some doing, but she was able to do it, and she slid out the window easily. When her feet touched the ground, she ducked behind the bushes outside and then peeked around to see if anyone was looking. No one seemed to be around, so she bolted toward the alley.

Katelyn grimaced, as her foot slapped down on the sharp objects that lined the alley, but she pushed the pain away. This was life or death and she was scared she wasn't going to make it out alive. Running to the end of the alleyway, she climbed on top of the dumpster where she could hop over the wall. The problem she had was that she knew there were men on the walls to her right and left and though this particular point wasn't guarded, they would see her the minute she bolted across the open space.

Looking around her, Katelyn frowned in concern.

_Think, Katelyn, think!_ She tried to focus on the problem. That's when she decided that she was going to have to drop down and slide along the wall, underneath the guards above and wait until they were distracted. Her hands were shaking and it was all she could do not to bolt right now, but she needed to stay as calm as she could. Taking a deep breath, she lowered herself down to the ground outside the wall. Staying flat against the wall, she slid toward the closest watch point where she saw bushes she could hide in and wait.

It felt like hours, but the minute the sun started going down, Katelyn began readying herself to run. She knew that they'd change shifts, but with the attack having happened recently, they'd be extra careful. Patiently, she sat until the sun was completely down. She heard the alarms going off and knew they were all looking for her, but they wouldn't be looking for her here. Crouching down on the ground, she laid flat and began to army crawl across the open space.

Moving slowly, she would pause each time she moved so that they wouldn't notice. It took hours and she almost had to ruin her cover when she heard the groaning of a walker nearby. Shivering with fear, armed only with a scalpel, she laid still as it passed by then started moving quickly to the woodline.

Reminding herself that walkers couldn't see any better at night than she, she bolted into the darkness of the woods.


	14. Chapter 14

"I think we should stay. The prison is fortified and we know the layout. If they're going to attack, this is the place to make our stand." Glenn stated, looking at Rick and the others who had gathered around to discuss their options.

Daryl leaned on his crossbow, quietly listening to them.

"I think we should take our chances and leave here. If that maniac comes, we're trapped." Carol said, worried that they could surround the prison.

"What do you think Hershel?" Rick asked, looking to Hershel for some wisdom.

"Originally, I thought moving would be the best idea, but from the intel Glenn and Maggie were able to give us, I don't they don't have enough people to surround the building. They're walking into a death trap. I think we're safer here, but we need to scout outside in case they have people watching the prison." Hershel reasoned, looking at Tyreese for input.

"Honestly, I don't know anything about this guy, so I'm relying on you guys to tell me what you need from us." Tyreese offered, knowing that his input was relatively useless. He didn't know anything about this, "Governor".

"I think we should go after that son of a bitch and kill his ass three ways ta Sunday." Daryl spat out, sick of listening to everybody chattin' away while Katelyn sat as his prisoner.

"This is bullshit!" He swore, throwing his hands in the air in frustration, "God knows what he's doing to her. I say we just go in there and kill him, then we don't need to leave."

Rick sighed. He knew how upset Daryl was, but the safety of the group was Rick's first priority.

"What's goin on?" Tyreese asked, not understanding what was going on.

Hershel filled him in, "Daryl rescued a girl recently and she got taken by the Governor. Now she's being held by him."

"She wasn't taken! You fucking gave her to him." He shouted, incensed that no one seemed to be as worried as he was.

"Calm down. That's his daughter. He isn't going to hurt her." Rick tried reasoning with Daryl who snorted in response.

"You're not listenin'! Look what they did to Glenn…and Maggie...not to mention that he's keeping that walker kid of his, thinkin she's alive. He's a nutjob!" Daryl was incensed now. He knew that she was in trouble and not being able to do anything about it was driving him nuts.

"Okay, okay. I'm hearin' ya, but we need to decide what to do as a group." Rick tried again.

"Man, fuck that! I'm goin' after her. Now you can all sit around here talkin' if ya want, but I'll be leaving at dark." Daryl spit on the floor for emphasis, then turned around to go sit, grabbing his crossbow on the way.

Rick watched Daryl sit down, dropping his head down to take a deep breath. In his head, he knew exactly what Daryl was saying, but he had to think of the group and he knew how dangerous this was.

"I'll go." Tyreese spoke up, "If this son of a bitch is as bad as you say he is, then we can't leave her there. The more we have, the safer we are."

Daryl looked up when he heard the new guy talk. He nodded in acknowledgement, part of him feeling relieved that someone with balls had joined the group.

"I'm goin'." Maggie said, stepping away from Glenn who let out a sigh when Maggie stepped forward.

Rick and Hershel looked at her in surprise.

"I'm not letting that bastard keep her. I know exactly what he'll do to her." Maggie spat out through clenched teeth, her fury evident on her face.

"I'll go." Glenn stepped forward, quietly uttering those words. Though Glenn was an even tempered guy, Hershel could see the seething anger under the surface after being tortured at the hands of Merle, not to mention what the Governor did to Maggie. He wasn't about to let that slide.

Rick shook his head in exasperation. He knew that he was going to have to do this in order to keep the group protected. He couldn't have Daryl running off on his own.

"Shit." Rick muttered, "I'm goin too then."

Daryl nodded in acknowledgement.

By the end of it, everyone had volunteered to go.

##############################################################################

Katelyn raced as fast as she could across the forest floor, looking over her shoulder frantically to make sure she wasn't being followed. She did her best to dodge the sharp rocks that lay scattered on the ground, but she must not have seen the one buried under the leaves.

She knew her foot slid across the jagged edge of the sharp rock jutting out before she actually felt it. Cringing, she waited for the pain to hit and wasn't disappointed. Backing up, she leaned against a rock outcropping, letting the throbbing leave her foot. It was dark, so she couldn't see, but she felt the blood running down the bottom of her foot.

"Dammit!" She swore softly under her breath, not wanting to attract the attention of anything that might be in the woods.

Putting her foot down on the ground with determination, she began to run again. Not seeing the obstacle in her path, she collided, full force with a walker that had seemingly come out of nowhere. Stunned from the collision, she shook her heck to clear it before noticing the creature she had knocked down. Scrambling backwards to get out of its reach, she jumped to her feet while the walker was only able to move slowly to stand.

Running again, she kept glancing over her shoulder to make sure she left it behind. Making her way down the hill, she splashed into the stream below. The gurgling water drowned out most of the sounds but luckily the moonlight was shining enough for her to make out the multiple forms moving toward her.

In a panic, she began scrambling backwards but then felt something grab her arm. Screaming, she yanked away her arm and bolted past two walkers coming right for her. Trapped, however, by the multitude in front of her, she came skidding to a halt and frantically search around her for an option.

She hadn't escaped her father just to end up eaten by walkers.

That's when she saw the low hanging branch of an oak tree. There was only one walker in the way. Looking down for a second at her cast, she ran straight for it, stiffening her arm at the last second to clothesline it in the throat with the hard, fiberglass exterior, flattening the walker and giving her a free shot at the tree.

Not being able to grip with both hands was going to present a problem, however, so she raced as fast as she could at it, trying to launch herself off the ground to hit the branch with her stomach. It wasn't high enough to protect her, but it would give her a way to climb into the higher branches.

Leaping as high as she could, she nearly knocked the wind out of herself trying to reach the lower branch, landing on her still-broken ribs. She nearly cried out in pain, but didn't have time, so she grabbed the offshoot branch to pull herself up, just in time.

Hands reached for her as she wrapped her forearm around the next branch and hauled herself up. Higher and higher she climbed, hoping that eventually the foliage would cover her enough that the walkers would forget she was there and move on.

Shaking from the pain and exertion, Katelyn sat in the higher branches, safe for the moment.


	15. Chapter 15

Daryl and the others got out of their vehicles about 2 miles from Woodbury. They were familiar with how to get there now and readied weapons just in case. They already knew that walkers wandered the area and they didn't want to get into the same situation as before. Michonne and Tyreese took point, the others falling into various positions behind them. The moon was bright enough to provide some light so they ducked into the woods to make their way toward Woodbury.

The group was quiet as they made their way. They decided against flashlights because they would be easier to spot by the walkers that way, and knew their eyes would adjust better if they went without. Walking for twenty minutes without hearing a walker made all of them feel a little better, but because of the dark, everyone was still on edge.

They could hear the familiar sound of the creek they had crossed yesterday, which drowned out their ability to hear the groaning of the walkers so they packed into a tighter group. It was Daryl who saw something moving near the stream and held everyone up with a hand signal and a whispered, "Stop!"

Pointing toward the moving figure, he could tell right away that it was a walker, but waited until it waded into the stream and was in full view before shooting an arrow at it. Trotting over to retrieve the arrow, he bent down to pull it out. That's when he saw the others.

"Shit." He swore in a half-whisper before calling to the others, "Geeks!"

The group fell into formation instantly as the walkers began disengaging from the animal, Daryl assumed they had cornered.

One…two…three…four down.

Daryl counted them off in his head. He spun out of the group to grab the arrows during a lull in the attack. He could have sworn he heard something up in the tree and would have swung a flashlight up there, but was set upon by two more walkers.

Twisting out of the way, he shot off another arrow, hitting the walker right in the head before resetting his crossbow to kill another one. There were just too many of these stupid things.

"Let's go that way. Too many here." Daryl prompted.

"All right people, let's head that way and see if we can outdistance these things." Rick said before the whole group trotted toward the west.

##############################################################################

Katelyn had watched the moon rise high in the sky, her leg and ribs throbbing, she knew she was in rough shape and wondered if she'd be able to make it back to the prison. A part of her felt like it was too much…her dad…the walkers…Gerold…all the things that had happened lately…except Daryl.

Leaning her head against the tree, she tried to force herself to not to think about her father, but the tears came anyways. She knew it would be bad, but she thought she could handle it.

She was wrong.

It was too much.

She looked down at the walkers groaning and scratching at the tree, trying to get to her, and thought about just letting herself fall, but the thought of becoming a walker was too much. As she watched them struggling to get at her, the sound started to slip away, until nothing but darkness was left.

############################################################################

Rick and Daryl crouched in the woodpile within Woodbury watching the glowing embers of a bonfire the town lit in the back of their compound. It had been quiet at the front but they could hear the noise happening and decided to go check it out. They were hidden from those inside, but could clearly see what was going on.

The whole town was gathered in a makeshift stadium. The outer edges of the arena had bonfires built for light and in the center, a pyre had been built with a pole standing in its center.

Daryl's brows gathered in worry. That looked like a pyre for burning witches and he was suddenly overcome with a feeling of horror.

"Shit." Daryl whispered under his breath.

Before Rick could say anything, they saw the Governor, face covered in a bandage, walking out in the center to address the crowd.

"This has been a harrowing day for Woodbury!" He shouted, mustering up as much "southern-preacher" style as he could.

"Not since the beginning of this have we've been in this kind of danger. Strangers came and attacked our homes tonight…" He paused for affect, letting tears gather in his eyes, "…my own daughter…my own daughter helped them."

Daryl lurched, forcing Rick to grab his shoulder to stop him, and holding his other hand up to signal him to wait.

"But she escaped." He continued preaching.

Daryl couldn't breathe, swallowing past the lump in his throat, and closed his eyes in gratitutde.

"But one of our own helped her-" He became angry now, his voice dropping to a low tone.

"One of us, and she has to pay." The Governor motioned with his hands for them to bring the "traitor" forward.

Two men stepped forward, holding an older woman in a doctor's robe between them. The woman struggled a little, more out of irritation at being manhandled than fear. Once they got to the edge, she looked the Governor in the eye and tilted her head back with pride.

"You're a monster, Philip. My death won't change that." She stated regally.

The Governor's good eye twitched with irritation.

"Get her up there. No one wants to hear your lies." He said, covering his fury at her audacity with dismissal.

The two men began shoving her up the steps.

Rick turned to the others.

"If she's not here, we should leave." Rick stated, looking at Daryl, "She could be out in those woods unarmed."

Daryl looked back at the woman who was about to die. His stomach twisted in knots at the thought of leaving the woman who might have saved Katelyn to this monster, but Rick was right. She was out there somewhere in the woods. From the sounds of it, she hadn't been gone long, which meant they needed to find her before she got into trouble with the walkers.

"You guys start going. I'll catch up." Daryl said enigmatically, before turning back to watch the men tying her hands behind her back.

Rick looked at him for a moment, the nodded.

One by one, the group crawled through the woodpile and back over the wall, and into the woods, leaving Daryl there alone.

The men didn't waste any time, and began lighting the fire. The woman stood, proud as Joan of Arc, as the flames began licking at her feet.

Daryl cringed, feeling helpless for a moment.

Reaching her waist now, the flames had jumped, bringing screams from the woman. It was horrible enough that even the bloodthirsty townspeople turned their faces away.

Daryl couldn't watch it anymore.

Raising his crossbow, he aimed it, and whispered, "Thank you," before pulling the trigger.

The screaming stopped immediately.


	16. Chapter 16

"How long we waitin'?" Michonne asked, getting impatient with waiting for Daryl.

"We wait until he gets here." Rick snapped, irritated with her.

"How're we finding her at night?" Glenn asked.

"I don't know." Rick answered, running his hand nervously through his hair.

It had been one thing to go into Woodbury at night, but wandering around searching for a girl lost in the woods, was going to be impossible. Especially if they couldn't yell for her.

Honestly, Rick didn't know how they were going to find her.

Tyreese turned quickly, hearing footsteps coming toward them and readied himself. Daryl came jogging up to them, frowning in anger, but Tyreese lowered his hammer when he saw him.

"That man needs serious killin'" He spat, catching his breath as he slowed down.

"Yeah, well one thing at a time." Rick suggested.

Daryl lowered his crossbow and got out his flashlight.

"We're gonna have to search for her which means we're gonna need light." Daryl explained, switching his light on.

"What about the walkers?" Maggie asked.

"We're just gonna have to kill them. We can draw them off of her by calling out for her." Daryl said, trying to sound rational, but knowing that no one was going to like that idea at all.

"What?" Glenn asked incredulously.

"We can't take on a herd, Daryl." Rick tried reasoning with him.

Daryl sighed, knowing that they wouldn't like the idea at all, then it struck him.

"Shit!" He swore loudly, causing everyone to flip around, ready for a fight.

"Back at the stream. Those damn walkers had something cornered in that tree. What if it was her?" Daryl started walking.

"Why didn't she call out to us?" Rick asked

"She probably didn't know we were there. We didn't talk at all. We were taking stuff out in the dark and then took off. The stream covers the sound enough." He answered before taking off in a run.

###########################################################################

They could hear the stream in the distance and slowed up so they could listen for the walkers. Daryl crouched down low and moved silently into the area. Seeing the movement up ahead, he raised his crossbow, shined the light at it, saw the walker, and shot.

One…two.

Running over the bodies, he pulled the two arrows back out.

Crouching again, Daryl waited for Rick to move up near him and pointed at the tree. There were several walkers standing around it, but most had moved on somewhere else.

Rick slowly walked up behind one of the walker, while Tyreese came from the other side. Jumping up, Rick swung his axe, crunching through the skull of the first walker, while Tyreese bashed the head of the next one in. Daryl shot the third one in the head, dropping the whole group in under 10 seconds.

Other walkers wandered around the area, and Daryl heard Glenn and Maggie drop two or three more. Knowing they had it under control, he turned his flashlight up into the tree and squinted. Moving the light around to get a better look, he still didn't see anything. Of course, the foliage in the upper branches was thick and he knew he'd have to climb up there.

"Psst! Katelyn!" He whispered loudly, hoping she could hear him.

There was no answer.

"Katelyn!" He yelled this time, not caring if the walkers heard him.

Still nothing.

Clutching the flashlight in his teeth, he swung his crossbow onto his back and began climbing the tree. Branch after branch, he climbed, getting high enough that he could see something on one of the branches.

It was a piece of blue cloth.

Reaching out, Daryl snagged it in his hands and brought it to him. It was cotton, and looked to be part of a doctor's scrubs or something.

_Why would it be up there?_ He thought to himself. _It didn't get up there on accident. Someone had been up there._

He was about to climb down when he noticed something else.

Blood.

"Rick!" He shouted down, "She's bleedin."

Climbing down part of the way, he jumped the rest of the way, shining his flashlight on the ground. Seeing a slightly darker area, he walked closer and knelt down. Dipping his fingers into the dark spot, he pulled it back to his face, revealing blood on his fingers.

"We've got a trail." He said, almost joyfully, before shining his light on the ground to follow the blood drips.

Hopping over logs and rocks, Daryl raced down the trail, only stopping to locate another blood drop. After an hour of following the trail, he came running out onto the road where their cars were parked, and frantically looked around.

"Katelyn!" He yelled, knowing that she had come this way, but he didn't hear anything.

"Dammit!" He swore, frustrated with not finding her here.

"Look." Rick pointed at the hood of the truck which was lifted up.

Daryl raced to the front to look.

"She tried to start it." Daryl stated, looking through the wires she had pulled out.

"We've got the keys." Rick said, pulling them out of his pocket.

"She didn't know what she was doin'. She was graspin' at straws." Daryl shook his head, letting out a deep sigh.

"So she kept goin'?" Rick asked.

"Yeah. Looks like it." Daryl muttered.

Rick put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath.

"Remind me to teach that girl how to hotwire a car when we find her." Daryl commented absently.

"What d'we do?" Rick looked at Daryl letting him decide.

Daryl looked around, shining his flashlight just in time to see a walker moving toward them.

Raising his crossbow non-chalantly, he shot it between the eyes.

"Feel better?" Tyreese asked him.

"Not even a little." He answered curtly.

"Listen. I know you want to find her tonight, but it's just not possible. It's too dark, there's too many miles to search." Rick put his hand on his shoulder and spoke softly to him.

"We have a trail. She can't have gotten that far ahead." He said, trying to convince himself at this point.

"I can't leave her out here, Rick." He said, tears beginning to form from the desperation.

Rick sighed, knowing that Daryl wouldn't stop looking for her. Arguing wasn't going to do any good. It hadn't worked with Sophie and it certainly wouldn't work with Katelyn.

"All right. We'll keep it up, but I'm gonna send Maggie and Sasha back to Hershel and Beth. If she heads that way, they might find her on the road." Rick reasoned.

Daryl nodded, then turned back to the forest and plunged.


	17. Chapter 17

Katelyn couldn't walk anymore.

Collapsing on the ground, she dragged in as many breaths as she could before sobs began wracking her body. She hurt everywhere and was so desperate that she'd almost rather get herself caught than have to walk one more step. She just didn't have it in her.

Pulling her head up off of her knees, she scanned the area. It was pitch black and every shape in the woods looked like it ran into the next or was moving. She thought about climbing another tree and waiting for dark since she didn't hear any more walkers.

Pushing herself up on her feet, she reached up with her good arm to pull, barely making it high enough to wrap her legs around the branch that extended outward. Latching it with her legs, she realized she was hanging upsidedown.

_Great, _she thought_, I'll die upsidedown_.

Forced to use her broken arm, she grasped another branch and used her fingertips to hook herself on and her other arm to haul herself on top of the branch. Sitting straddled, she was now able to stand and crawl into the next branch where she would be safe enough for tonight.

Exhausted, she fell asleep hoping she didn't fall off.

############################################################################

Daryl knew when Katelyn had slowed down because the blood drops were closer together and sometimes even smeared. Whatever was bleeding, was bleeding a lot which made him worry that she was going to pass out somewhere from loss of blood.

Spreading out now, they began calling to her. Tired, they were all willing to take the chance of attracting some walkers in exchange for finding her faster. It was twenty minutes of calling before Daryl stopped them.

He had a smile on his face.

Kneeling on the ground with his fingertips balancing him, he flashed his light into the tree up above.

Everyone's eyes followed as the light fell on the sleeping figure of Kate.

Dirty as hell, bruised and battered…but alive.

Daryl had never felt so grateful in his life.

Standing up, he walked over to the tree and swung up onto the first branch. He didn't want to scare her so he called out to her from below.

"Katelyn!" Daryl yelled, trying to wake her up, but she didn't move.

Frowning, he stood up on the branch, holding the flashlight in his mouth, and brushed her hair out of her eyes. She was pale and with the amount of blood she'd lost, he wondered if she passed out, but then one of her eyes slowly opened.

She looked drunk, but she was looking at him.

"Am I dreaming?" She asked softly

"Would I be standin' in a damn tree if you were?" He retorted, too overjoyed with finding her to care if he was being a smartass.

Katelyn just smiled and closed her eyes again.

"Take me home." She whispered.

##############################################################################

Daryl insisted on carrying her into the prison. Her foot was injured, she was exhausted, but secretly…he just wanted to touch her and make sure she was real. He didn't know how she felt about him yet, so he was holding it all in as much as he could.

He didn't think anyone else noticed yet either.

Maggie and Glenn stood with their arms around each other, smirking at Daryl Dixon, fawning all over Kate. Hell, even Rick noticed, and he didn't notice anything.

Daryl made his way through the cell block to Hershel who was waiting for them. Placing her gently down on the table, he started to step back, but Katelyn didn't want to let go. Smiling, he unwrapped her arms from around his neck and held onto her hands as Hershel came forward. Beth brought the bucket to clean her foot with while Hershel adjusted the light.

"You're a mess, Katelyn." Hershel said, chuckling at his disastrous patient.

"Sorry. It wasn't my intention." Not realizing that Hershel was joking with her.

"I think we need to keep you locked up for a bit. Let you heal completely before you run off doing anything brave." Hershel continued, making sure to pay her the compliment to take the sting out of the joke.

"I'll keep the key." Daryl said, adding his in there as well. It was fine now that she was home safe. If anyone had joked when he was near panic though, he'd of killed them.

"Well, the easiest way to do this is with Lidocaine. We're gonna add some more stitches to your collection." Hershel said, wheeling back in his rolling chair with his one good leg.

Rummaging through the bottles, he found the Lidocaine and a syringe so that he could deaden up the area.

"We're gonna have to soak that and scrub it out first I'm afraid. You got lots of junk in it." Hershel delivered the bad news, "Now I can shoot you up first so you won't feel it, or we can do it without."

"I'm fine," accompanied by "Shoot her up" came first from her, then from Daryl.

"Shoot her up." He repeated forcefully. He didn't think he could take her being in pain one more time.

"All right, lay down on your tummy." Hershel patted the table so she'd roll over.

Katelyn was trying to be brave, but actually, she felt like she was crawling out of her skin. Too much had happened in the last few weeks. Too much, back to back…stuff, without any time to process it. Suddenly, she was overcome with panic.

"Wait…" She tried to take a deep breath, but found that she couldn't breathe all of a sudden. Gasping for air, she closed her eyes and tried to get ahold of herself but she couldn't.

Everything was reeling inside the room. She could hear voices calling to her, but couldn't focus.

"Daryl!" She cried out, grasping at the arm that was in front of her as everything went black.

Daryl caught her as she crumpled, surprised with her sudden fall.

"What the…" he muttered, wrapping his arms around her to lower her back onto the table safely.

"She's probably in shock. She hasn't had a great few weeks." Hershel explained as he took her pulse.

"She seemed fine." Daryl said, shaking his head in confusion.

"She was holding it together, but it's too much, Daryl. She needs time to rest and recuperate." Maggie offered, knowing an inkling of what Katelyn had gone through.

"We don't know what her dad did to her." Glenn offered as well.

Daryl's face crumpled in anguish.

"I thought she'd be all right." He whispered.

"She will be. She just needs time." Hershel said.

"Let's get that foot taken care of and check her over to make sure she's all right before she wakes up." Hershel offered, trying to put one foot in front of the other for the obviously distressed Daryl.

"What should I do?" Daryl asked quietly.

"Just sit with her. Hold her hand for now." Hershel said, smiling reassuringly at Daryl before beginning to work on cleaning up her foot.

Daryl took her hand and held on for dear life.


	18. Chapter 18

Katelyn awoke to the quiet sound of whispering voices. Opening her eyes slowly, she looked around, realizing immediately that she was inside the prison and not with her father. The events of the previous day came flooding back and Katelyn closed her eyes against the wave of panic that naturally followed.

"Mornin'" She heard the familiar voice of her knight-in-shining-armor call out to her softly. Opening her eyes, she saw him walking toward her with a bowl full of something hot. Steam rising from whatever he was holding, he smelled it and smiled, winking at her playfully.

"Hungry?" He asked.

Katelyn shook her head "no" but was betrayed by her stomach which growled loudly.

Arching an eyebrow at her, his mouth turned up in a smirk as he set the bowl down on the table next to her. Watching as she slowly sat up, she winced, causing Daryl to set the bowls down quickly to help her. Grateful for the assistance, she took his hand and let him aid her in sitting upright.

Swinging her legs slowly over the edge of the bed, she let out a deep breath and crinked her neck to shake out the knots. Bringing the bowl over to her, she smelled one of her childhood favorites; hot oatmeal with brown sugar and maple syrup.

"Mmmmmm." She murmured, her mood lightening with his playful smirk.

"Take it easy. Don't get in a hurry. You can stay in bed for as long as you need to." He urged, pulling the table closer to her and scooting his chair over so he could eat next to her.

He felt a bit awkward, not wanting to push her. Wanting to give her time to heal, but it was hard because grasshoppers were doing backflips in his stomach. He felt a blush creeping up his neck and nearly swore with irritation.

"How does your foot feel?" He asked, squatting down in front of her.

She had almost forgotten that she injured it and quickly pulled it up off the floor to look. The stiches closed the wound neatly and it was bandaged to protect it.

"Pretty good actually." She replied.

"Runnin in bare feet?" He asked, trying to lead up to the obvious questions concerning her escape.

"Doc didn't have shoes to give me." She replied absently.

"The doc?" Daryl asked, suddenly wondering if the woman on the pyre had been her.

"Yeah. Doctor Stevens." She said, taking a bite of her oatmeal, pausing to finish, "She's the one who helped me escape."

Daryl's jaw tightened. He didn't want to upset her by telling her that the Governor had killed her so he clammed up.

"I'm glad you did." Was all he said, pausing for a moment, then adding in a more Daryl-characteristic style, "Because if you hadn't, they'd be burying a lot more people today."

She smiled, pushing thought of the dead away.

###########################################################################

Daryl was sitting in the tower, watching the area from above when Carol entered the room.

"Hey." She said, smiling at him before sitting down in the chair beside him.

"Hey." He grunted back.

"You gonna talk to her?" She asked quietly, nudging him in the shoulder playfully.

"Who?" He asked, confused at what she was getting at.

"Katelyn?" She said slyly. Daryl didn't know that the whole group has been talking about what was BLATANTLY obvious to everyone else. He'd die if he did, so she had been elected to be the messenger.

"What do I need to talk to her about?" He asked, frowning.

"About you…and her…" Carol said, her voice lilting up at the end.

"Woman. What the hell you talkin about?" He snorted, slamming his foot on the ground from its elevated position.

Carol couldn't help but giggle a bit at his exasperation. She couldn't help it. He was so irresistibly…difficult.

"You know exactly what I'm talkin' about. Don't sit there pretending you don't!" She laughed out loud this time, which only caused his face to furrow with pissiness.

"Shut up." He snapped, standing up and grabbing his crossbow with irritation.

This didn't have the effect he wanted. Instead, Carol burst out laughing again, a huge smile plastered across his face.

"Face it cowboy…you're in love." She got out before falling into giggles again.

"Whatever!" He spat, before storming out of the tower to the sounds of Carol's laughter.

Stomping across the prison yard, Daryl headed straight for the walkers who had amassed along the fenceline. Raising his crossbow, he started firing, one at a time, at their heads.

One…two…three…four…five…

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake that conversation.

_Shit!_ He thought to himself. _Did everyone know?_

Running through options in his head, he went from denying it, to just owning up to it, to running away, which he thought was ridiculous…but he couldn't help it.

He was head over heels in love with her.

The problem was, that he didn't know what to do about it.

She had been through so much. She might not even want a man. After what she'd been through, he couldn't blame her. He wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to become a nun at this point, but then why did she always seem so trusting of him.

Was she just grateful to him for rescuing her from that animal?

Women had always been a mystery to him. Not the women who hung out at the bar with Merle and his buddies. Real women. The kind you want to settle down with. The kind you could see being a real mother to your children. Not like his mother.

He had avoided relationships because all of the women he'd ever been around should have had their tubes tied at birth, but Katelyn wasn't like them.

He didn't actually know what she was like…not really.

He didn't know what she liked to do before all of this happened. He didn't know what dreams she had…what movies she liked…food. He didn't really know anything about her so how could this be love.

He shook his head trying to clear it, but that nagging feeling just kept on nagging.

Finally, he gave up fighting it.

Maybe Carol was right.

Maybe he was in love.


	19. Chapter 19

He liked to watch her move, her clothes clinging to her body gently as she bent over to fold. Sadly enough, it took an apocalyptic event to put him in a position where he had access to this many pretty girls at once. It was too much to resist.

He tried, for a while, to withstand the urges. It was enough to be able to sit near them, to smell them, to watch them, but he needed more. He needed to touch them.

He knew that he had to be careful. This group was wary and smart. They protected each other fiercely and rarely went anywhere on their own, which would make it difficult to enact his plan, but he had a plan.

He waited until it was dark outside before slipping out of the prison. Quietly crossing the courtyard, he hugged the shadows so that Glenn and Maggie didn't notice anything. Sliding along the edges, he lifted his wire cutters and clipped the ends of the outer fenceline. It wouldn't cause anyone harm…lord knows that he didn't want to harm anyone, it would just cause them to have to investigate and then repair, which would distract the men for just long enough.

Slipping back inside, he re-entered the prison the same way he exited and went to sleep with a smile on his face.

#########################################################################

Rick, Glenn, and Daryl stood in front of the secondary fence, looking at the small group of walkers that had entered the outer area during the night.

"It's only a few. I can take 'em out and then we can take a look at the damage." Daryl offered, raising his crossbow to plug one of them in the forehead, dropping it immediately to the ground.

Walking forward, Daryl and Rick opened the gate quickly and started jogging toward the walkers milling about within the outer yard. As soon as the walkers saw them, they began moving toward the two as quickly as they could only to be met by Daryl and Rick's axes and knives.

It didn't take long for them to take them out.

Walking over toward the new opening in the fence, Daryl knelt to inspect the damage. Using his fingers he bent one of the steel threats back to look at it and saw immediately that it had been pinched by something.

"These have been cut." He said, turning to look at Rick with a frown of concern on his face.

"Can you tell if they were cut from within?" Rick asked.

"Nope. Don't know if someone from outside or in did it." Daryl answered as he stood up.

"Shit." Rick swore, putting his hands on his hips and staring at the pointed toe of his cowboy boot.

"We're gonna have ta fix this." Daryl stated.

"Yeah." Rick agreed.

"There's a shitload of tools in that shop but we're gonna have to clear it out again." Daryl said as he looked around the rest of the outer yard for any other damage.

"All right. We'll keep everybody out of the outer yard for now and form a group to go down to the shop." Rick said irritably.

Just one more thing.

"Aight." Daryl answered, turning to walk back inside.

#########################################################################

He watched them from the shadows as Rick, Daryl, Tyreese, Glenn, Maggie, and Allen opened the door that led down the ramp and into the 2nd level of the prison. He knew that he had to act quickly or lose the opportunity to satisfy his craving.

Waiting for the door to lock, he turned immediately to start enacting his plan.

Taking the screw driver out of his pocket, he began unwinding the screws on the ventilation shaft. Sliding his body into it, he wiggled himself in backwards, pulling the vent cover into place and solidifying the screws backwards so it would stay.

Pushing himself backwards, he moved deeper into the vent until he came to a T-intersection where he turned around to face forward and made his way to the first spot. A pile of tinder and other flammable material filled a 5 foot section. Dragging the matches out of his pocket, he lit one and slid it carefully into the kindling pile, lighting the fire almost immediately.

Quickly crawling down another shaft that ran adjacent to the cell-block the survivors lived in, he had a similar pile full of material that would smoke. Lighting another match, he lit that one as well, causing smoke to begin billowing almost immediately out of the vents and into the hallways nearby.

Making his way out of the ventilation system, he scrambled to get into position. He knew that the survivors would have to leave because the smoke would sweep into the cell block, and they would have to go right by him in order to leave.

It wasn't long before he heard the loud voices in the area followed by coughing. He saw Carol and Sasha helping Hershel begin moving while Carl was acting as scout. The new girl, Katelyn, was walking behind them with Beth…his beautiful Beth.

He was going to have to be fast.

Waiting until they walked by him, and the smoke filled the corridor thickly, he waded in. He was only two feet behind her. He could tell it was her because of the golden blonde hair. Reaching out his arms with lightning speed, he grabbed her from behind, covering her mouth hard with his hand and a vice-like grip around her waist.

Yanking her backward, he pulled her around the corner and dragged the kicking and squirming girl quickly down the hallway. Her screams were muffled by his hand which was clamped hard against her mouth. Losing air quickly, she began to claw at his hands, causing him to grunt with pain. Flipping her around quickly, he cocked back his fist and punched her in the temple, stunning her and giving him a moment to drag her into a room. Having prepared for this, he dropped her on the ground and locked the door behind them. He had already covered the vent into this room so very little smoke entered.

Looking down at the moaning girl, he knelt down next to her and began stroking her face lovingly.

Beth awoke to the frightening grin of evil.

Axel.


	20. Chapter 20

Daryl plunged the hatchet straight into the skull of the last walker, splattering brain matter all over the wall behind him.

"I'll never get used to the stink." Maggie said.

"Skin and dress a few deer, you'll get used to it." Daryl responded, wiping the gore off of the hatchet on the walker's tattered clothing.

"Come on. The shop is right through there." Rick said, stepping forward to unlock the door.

The heavy metal doors were opened at once, with Rick jumping back out of the way just in case there were walkers within. The room was torn up, many things missing, as if those that were struggling to survive stripped it of anything that could be used as a weapon. Looking around, they quickly noticed two skeletal walkers who were so emaciated, they could barely walk. Struggling to get to the fleshy group, the walkers dragged their corpses in lurching steps.

"What the hell?" Daryl spat, pulling his axe and moving forward quickly.

Swinging the axe at the first one's head, it came off easily with no blood and no gore. Turning quickly, Daryl cleaved the other one's head in half with one swing.

Watching the bodies drop on the floor, he knelt down next to them to look.

"I've never seen ones so…skinny." He scrunched up his face in disgust as he poked around their dried up organs and flesh. "They look like mummies."

Rick squatted down as well, studying the corpses.

"Did you notice that they weren't moving very coordinated?" Rick asked, looking at Daryl.

"Yeah, it was like watching a rickety skeleton from one of those Claymation movies." Daryl answered.

"You think they can starve to death?" Tyreese asked.

"I don't know." Rick answered.

Looking around, Daryl noticed a blow torch and stood to retrieve it. Delving into the pile of tools, he managed to retrieve a sautering iron and wire that they needed to fix the fence. Digging around a little more, he managed to find a few things they could use as weapons as well and held them up with a smile on his face.

"Got it." He said proudly dangling the equipment from his fingers.

Rick nodded and said, "All right. Let's get back up there."

Daryl nodded and everyone fell into formation again.

#########################################################################

"Beth!" Katelyn yelled frantically.

Hershel stood up, thinking to go back into the smoke filled building but Katelyn stopped him.

"No Hershel. I'll go back. I'm the one that lost her." Katelyn frowned with guilt.

Katelyn opened the door again, lifting her sweater up over her nose to act as a bit of a filter. Carol held the door open so that some of the smoke would be sucked out.

"Be careful!" Carol called out, watching Katelyn disappear into the smoke filled corridor.

Katelyn waved her other arm in front of her, trying to move the smoke out of the way but it was no use. The hall was filled. Instead, she placed her palm along the wall as a guide and swept her foot across in front of her so she could feel for anyone on the ground. Swinging her foot from side to side, she traversed the first corridor but found nothing.

Turning the corner and heading into the open, she noticed that the smoke was starting to dissipate. The larger room with the open windows was dispersing the smoke enough for her to see across the room. Following the same trail they left from, she made her way across the room, but also found nothing. Looking from side to side, she accidentally inhaled a bunch of smoke and started coughing, pulling her sweatshirt back over her mouth so she could take some deep breaths. Heading over to the window, she sucked in the sweet air from outside, calming her cough.

Turning back to the room, she swore that she heard something and cocked her head to the side to listen, but it was silent. Cautiously, she set her feet down one at a time, looking toward the small hallway that lead to the supply and storage room but there was no reason she would be in there. About to turn away, Katelyn stopped for a moment, thinking she heard something again. Creeping closer to the eerie sound, she inched her way toward the small hallway and paused outside the door.

Leaning her ear against it, she heard a strange, muted, ripping sound and narrowed her eyes in confusion. Reaching her hand slowly to the door handle, she began turning it slowly. Leaning across the door to peek through the crack, she caught of glimpse of someone moving before the door slammed into her face, knocking her backwards.

Sprawled across the floor, she was immediately grabbed by the hair. Screaming, she grabbed the hand holding her hair as it dragged her through the doorway. Twisting her head to get a look at who had a hold of her, she struggled to see him, thinking it was her father.

When was surprised when he stopped dragging her to find that it wasn't her father. It was Axel, the quiet, demure inmate that had been so helpful to the ground.

He didn't look so quiet and demure now.

Standing over her body, he was grinning down at her.

"I didn't expect to have two for the price of one. Must be my lucky day." Axel drawled, lowering his face to examine his new prize.

Suddenly, Katelyn was back at that moment in the woods with Gerold. Paralyzed and unable to breathe, she began gasping for air.

"Now, now. Don't get upset. I just wanna touch you." Axel said, reaching his hand out to stroke her face.

Katelyn sucked in air, gasping like a fish out of water.

Continuing to stroke her face, meanwhile humming a lullaby, Axel leaned in to kiss her.

Katelyn saw his face moving toward hers and was abruptly filled with disgust and rage. Rage for her father. Rage for Gerold. Rage for the world they were all forced to live in.

Summoning that rage from deep within her, Katelyn suddenly jammed her fingers into his eyes. Reeling back from the sudden pain, Axel roared furiously. Katelyn rolled to her feet and kicked for all she was worth. Catching him straight in the teeth, she saw at least three go flying as he was knocked onto his back.

It only took a second for Katelyn to realize this was her chance. Turning to run, she caught Beth out of the corner of her eye and screamed.

Though Beth's eyes were open, she was staring lifelessly toward Katelyn. In that instant, Katelyn knew that this son of a bitch killed her, and all fear left her.

Growling with ferocity, Katelyn launched at him, kicking him anywhere she could land a blow. All the while, she screamed nonsensical animal sounds at him. Axel was now curled in a ball trying to protect himself from the insane woman who was now attacking him.

Unfolding for a second, however, he managed to catch her foot and throw her to the ground. Quickly throwing his weight on top of her, he grabbed her head and slammed it into the ground, causing Katelyn to black out for a moment.

"You ruined our date! I just wanted to touch you." He screamed, spitting in her face as he screamed, slamming her head into the ground again and again.

At this point, a thought popped into Katelyn's mind; she would "play dead" and then surprise him.

Axel was surprised when she went limp. He took a moment to get control of his breathing, taking deep inhales to slow himself down. Licking his lips, he wiped his arms across his lip, wiping the sweat from it. Looking down at his prey, he leaned down again.

_WHACK!_ Katelyn smashed her forehead into his nose, shattering it and causing him to fall backwards. Kicking him off of her legs, she scrambled toward the door. Ripping it open in a frantic grab, she ran smack into a pair of arms.

Yanking herself back with a scream, she stopped midway, and collapsed in relief.

Daryl.


	21. Chapter 21

When they smelled the smoke, while walking back to the prison block, they all immediately shared the same thought; The Governor. Convinced that he had come for revenge and set the prison on fire, they took off in a mad dash.

Opening the locked door which led to the cell block, they were surprised to see that the smoke had died down and was merely hanging in the air around their knees now. Confused, they quickly made their way to the sleeping area but found no one. Rushing outside, they found part of the group.

"Is everyone all right?" Rick asked, rushed and intense.

"We lost Beth on the way out here and Katelyn went back in after her." Hershel responded, setting Daryl's hair on end.

Immediately, he had a bad feeling.

Not wasting a second of time, Daryl turned and dove back into the prison, storming through the smoky cloud. Shouting for her and frantically searching every inch of the main area, but he found nothing. That's when he heard a bloodcurdling scream followed by what sounded like a snarling animal.

Bolting in that direction, Daryl came to the small hallway but the only thing there was the locked storage area. That's when he heard something again;

_Crack!_

When the door came flying open, he was completely unprepared as something flew out, running smack into him.

He recognized the copper hair right away and his arms instinctively wrapped around her.

_Katelyn._

Daryl didn't know what was going on until he glanced over her shoulder and saw Axel standing in the middle of the room. His mouth covered in blood with a trail running down his chin from where Katelyn had knocked her teeth out.

Axel's eyes grew wide when he saw Daryl and he began to back up.

Daryl suddenly went cold. He glanced down at Katelyn for a mere second and saw the absolute terror on her face and fury shot through him. Looking around the room for a brief second confirmed his suspicion. There, on the ground, behind the table, was Beth. Her eyes were open and sightless, and her arms lay askew.

"You son of a bitch!" Daryl growled.

Hearing Rick and the others coming up behind him, he handed Katelyn off to Rick without saying a word and pulled his knife. Advancing into the room, he began to stalk his prey.

Axel had been afraid of the redneck since he first laid eyes on Daryl Dixon. There was something feral and untamed, like a panther waiting to strike, about him. He had watched him kill walkers with a fearlessness that Axel had never known. He envied him. Admired him. In some ways, he wanted to be him. He had seen him hunt as well, with precision and skill, but now he was the prey. The intensity of his eyes was mesmerizing and he couldn't look away.

Daryl passed by Beth's poor broken body, but he didn't even glance. He was locked onto his target and Axel knew that this would be a death match he would likely lose. Fearing for his life, Axel turned to run, but there wasn't anywhere to go. He was locked in a room with a ferocious predator and the only exit was through it.

Axel saw Rick, holding Katelyn, as he stood in the doorway watching the scene unfold and he tried to appeal to Rick to save him.

"Please Rick! Make him stop. I've been good to you. I've helped your group." He groveled, putting the table between he and the murderous Daryl.

Blood and drool ran down his chin, making him look like one of the walkers, as he begged for his life, but Rick said nothing. He merely clamped his jaw down tight in anger, staring Axel in the eyes with hatred. Axel burst out crying as bubbles of drool erupted from his mouth.

Daryl felt no pity.

He waited for Axel to get to the other side of the table before he pretended to lunge to the right, knowing that Axel would run to the left. When Axel bolted that way, Daryl leapt onto the table, and dove straight for the squealing Axel.

Hitting him square in the chest, Daryl took him to the ground and plunged the knife straight into his throat. Axel's hands frantically grabbed at Daryl's hand trying to dislodge it, but Daryl merely pressed down harder on it, watching the blood pour down the side of Axel's neck.

Growling in anger, Daryl ripped the blade sideways and out of Axel's neck, causing the artery to sever. The gurgling in Axel's throat was followed by choking as his mouth gaped and he gasped for air.

Axel drowned in his own blood.

Daryl waited, crouched on top of him, until the last life left Axel's eyes. When his chest stopped moving, he drew the blade back and plunged it into his skull, making sure that Axel couldn't do any damage in death either.

It wasn't until he heard the outcry of Maggie, upon seeing her sister, that he moved.

Looking back at Katelyn, who now stood, wide-eyed, in the doorway, he motioned for her to come to him. Opening his arms, she didn't even hesitate, and flew into them.

That's when he knew that she loved him too.

Without a word.

Without a doubt.

Katelyn loved him.

Reaching his hand up, he stroked her beautiful hair and laid his cheek on her head, before setting her back a little to look at her. He raised a gentle hand to her face and lifted her chin to look him in the eye.

"You hurt?" He asked softly.

"I'm okay. Just a headache…" she paused, a sob catching in her throat as she remembered, "…Beth…".

"I know." He said sadly, looking over toward where Maggie sat, holding her sister's head in her lap, rocking back and forth and crying.

Tilting Katelyn's head back, he looked into her eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said, but what he really wanted to say was, I love you.

Looking into his eyes, she heard it anyways, and replied, "I'm sorry too."

Daryl knew what she meant and smiled a little before kissing her on the forehead.

"Poor Beth." She mumbled sadly into his neck as she lay her head down on his shoulder. It just felt so comfortable being there…so safe.

"She was a good kid." He stated sadly.

Looking over at Rick, Daryl motioned with his eyes toward Beth. Daryl knew that any minute now, Beth was going to turn and one of them had to take care of that.

"I'm gonna have Rick take you and Maggie out of here for a minute. I need to take care of something important." He said softly, looking her in the eye.

She could see sadness there and knew immediately what he was talking about. Tears filled her eyes with sorrow, but she nodded and Daryl handed her off to Rick.

Glen tugged on Maggie's shoulders, practically lifting her up to take her out of the room. Daryl watched as everyone but Tyreese left before walking over to Beth's body. Crouching down next to her, he lowered his head and let out a breath sadly. He thought of Amy and Sophia and how cruel this world is to the innocent. It broke his heart and he swore that would never happen to Katelyn.

"I'm sorry sweetheart. This shouldn't have happened." He said quietly, before standing up and unslinging his crossbow.

Aiming it at her head, Daryl closed his eyes for a second, then pulled the trigger.


	22. Chapter 22

"Beth was a light in a very dark world. She brightened an otherwise dreary and dismal existence. In her own quiet way, she represented the sweetness of innocence and today we lay her to rest." Hershel spoke clearly, his voice full of emotion and strong. His eyes watered but tears didn't fall.

There was a part of him that wondered if she wasn't better off now where she could run in fields filled with daisies and sunshine. The loss of her was theirs to carry, not hers, and they would fight that much harder to preserve the preciousness of life. Looking around, he saw Maggie, standing in front of Glenn, a man who had become like a son to him. Maggie cried softly, but she had always been the strong one, and he knew that she would be okay.

He watched as Maggie walked forward, placing the white daisies that she, Carol, and Katelyn had picked earlier that day under the watchful eye of Daryl. One by one, they laid them down on the mound of dirt where his youngest rested beneath, each silently praying for her. They had become a family.

Looking over at Katelyn, Hershel nodded in acknowledgement. It had been Katelyn who had risked her life trying to save Beth and he would be forever grateful to her. Katelyn smiled sadly at him and placed a hand on his arm in sympathy before turning and walking away to leave Hershel alone with his daughter for the last time.

Daryl stood beside Hershel for a moment, waiting until everyone was out of earshot, but couldn't think of anything to say. He had been five minutes too late, and that thought bothered him.

"I'm sorry 'bout your girl." He offered, thinking to himself that the words were lame, but it was all he could do.

Hershel surprised him when he turned to look at Daryl and said, "You did everything you could. She knows that, and I know that. I'm glad you were here."

Daryl didn't know what to say, so he stood silently. Turning around to leave, he paused for a moment and placed his hand on Hershel's shoulder. Squeezing it in acknowledgement of his pain, he then left.

Jogging to catch up with Katelyn, he slipped his hand in hers as he came up behind her. Carol noticed it and turned her head around quickly before he saw her kind smirk. She didn't want to embarrass them. They had been through enough.

"Walk with me?" Daryl said huskily, trying to keep his request quiet.

Katelyn turned and looked quizzically at him before answering, "Allright."

Squeezing her hand in reassurance, Daryl led her across the field to a small grove of trees just out of eyeshot of everyone else. Pausing for a moment, he turned her gently around to face him, and without saying a word, he leaned in slowly to kiss her.

Katelyn's stomach was doing flipflops as she felt the gentle pressure of his lips on hers. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and couldn't help but smile. Feeling her lips tighten up, Daryl pulled back, worried that he'd upset her, but then he saw the smile.

Daryl felt his lips turning up uncontrollably. He couldn't help himself.

Tilting her head to the side, Katelyn looked up at him from under her eyelashes and waited. Lips parted, he moved in closer this time, wrapping his strong arm around her waist to secure her snugly against his lean frame. This time, it wasn't a gentle kiss, it was a deep, searing, passionate brand saying, "I love you more than anything."

Breathless, Katelyn felt possessed by him, like their bodies belonged with each other, forever intertwined. Only when he needed to breathe again did he stop, pulling away just enough to steal some air, but close enough that he could feel her eyelashes flutter against his cheek.

"I love you." He whispered, terrified for a moment, but then he felt her mouth turn up in a smile, and he gathered the courage to ask, "Are you okay with this?"

Pulling away a little bit, Katelyn studied his face. She could see his fear and knew that he needed reassurance that she wasn't afraid of him, of what being in love could mean, and of physical contact.

"You're not…afraid of me?" He asked, not wanting to bring up painful memories, but needing to hear it from her lips.

She smiled reassuringly…sweetly at him.

"I could never be afraid of you." She finally answered before reaching her hand up around his neck to pull him in for another kiss.

Just before their lips touched again, she whispered, "I love you too."

Carol, holding little Judith, stood in the tower with Rick, watching the scene unfold together. Hershel stood on his one leg, next to the grave of his daughter, Glenn and Maggie sat together in the courtyard, holding hands, and Katelyn and Daryl had finally admitted they were in love. They both knew that these moments were rare, that too many dark nights had fallen on them, and for once all was right with the world.

THE END


	23. Author's Note

Thank you to all of you who read my first fan fiction story! I had a blast writing it. I could keep going on and on, so if you'd like for there to be a sequel, let me know.


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